>rnia il ^ STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Volume LXXIII] [Number 1 Whole Number 171 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT In Its Social and Economic Aspects BY FRANK F. ROSENBLATT, Ph.D. PART I 55'en) Dork COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LOiSTGMANS, GREEN & CO., AGENTS London : P. S. King & Son, Ltd. I916 FACULTY OF POLITI CAL SCIENCE Nicholas Murray Butler, LL.D., President. Munroe Smith, LL.D., Professor of Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence. E. R. A. Seligman, LL.D., Profes- sor of Political Economy and Finance. H. L. Osgood, LL.D., Professor of History. W. A. Dunning, LL.D., Professor of History and Political Philosophy. J. B. Moore, LL.D., Professor of International Law. F. H. Giddings, LL.D., Professor of Sociology. J. B. Clark, LL.D., Professor of Political Economy. J. H. Robinson, Ph.D , Professor of History. H. R. Seager, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy. H. L Moore, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy. W. R. Shepherd, Ph.D., Professor of History. J. T. Shotwell, Ph.D., Professor of History. G. W. Botsfotd, Ph.D., Professor of History. V. G. Simkhovitch, Ph.D., Professor of Economic History. E. T. Devine, LL.D., Professor of Social Economy. H. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of History. 8. McC. Lind- say, LL.D., Professor of Social Legislation. C. A. Beard, Ph.D.. Professor of Politics. W. D. Guthrie, A.M., Professor of Constitutional Law. H. R. Mussey, Ph.D., Asso- ciate Professor of Economics. C. H. Hayes, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History. A. A, Tenney, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology. E. M. Salt, Ph.D.. Assistant Pro- fessor of Public Law. R. L. Schuyler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Histoiy. R. E. Chaddock, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Statistics. T. R. Powell, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Constitutional Law. D. S. Muzzey, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History. W. C. Mitchell, Ph.D., Professor of Economics. E. C. Stowell, D en D., Associate Professor of International Law. H. L. McBain, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Municipal Science. B. F. Kendrick, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History C. D. Hazen, Ph.D., Professor of History. SCHEME OF INSTRUCTION GROUP I. HISTORY AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. Subject A. Ancient and Oriental History, fourteen courses. Subject B. Mediseval History, twenty-one courses. Subject C. Modern European History, twenty-one courses. Subject D. American History, twenty courses. Subject E. History of Thought and Culture, thirty-five courses. Courses in Church History given at the Union Seminary are open to the students of the School of Political Science. GROUP II. PUBLIC LAW AND COMPARATIVE JURISPRUDENCE. Subject A. Politics, twelve courses. Subject B. Constitutional and Administrative Law, eight courses. Subject C. International Law, nine courses. Subject D. Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, seven courses. Courses in Law given in the Colum- bia Law School are open to the students of the School of Political Science. GROUP III. ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE. Subject A. Political Economy and Finance, twenty two courses. Applied Econom- ics, sixteen courses. Subject B. Sociology and Stati.stics, twenty-three courses. Sub- ject C. Social Economy, twelve courses. Courses in Social Economy given in the School of Philanthropy are open to students in the School of Political Science. The gi eater number of the courses consist of lectures; a smaller number take the form of research under the direction of a professor. The degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. are given to students who fulfil the requirements prescribed. (For particulars, see Columbia University Bulletins of Information, Faculty of Political Science.) Any person not a candidate for a degree may attend any of the courses at any time by payment of a propor- tional fee. Ten or more Cutting fellowships of Riooo each or more, four University fellowships of S650 each, two or three Gilder fellowships of 5650 — $800 each, the Schiff fellowship of ^600, the Curtis fellowship of |6oo, the Garth fellowship of S650, and a number of University scholarships of $150 each are awarded to applicants who give evidence of special fitness to pursue advanced studies. Several prizes of from $50 to $250 are awarded. The library contains over 600,000 volumes and students have access to other great collections in the city. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE GIFT OF Dr. Gordon Watkins l^B^^^P \-vrfi.H':^,l-ri> :^::;p:g^:;;g:^g^gr'Rgv^ j STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Volume LXXIII] [Number 1 Whole Number 171 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT In Its Social and Economic Aspects FRANK F;' ROSENBLATT, Ph.D. PART I JJ'ctD Work COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., AGENTS London : P. S. King & Son, Ltd. 1916 Copyright, 1916 BY FRANK F. ROSENBLATT STa KATHERINE GOLDING ROSENBLATT in appreciation of true comradeship this work is dedicated by her husband The Author THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT Je ne propose rien, je n' impose rien: j' expose. PREFACE Society, like every individual, has a bias of its own: while frequently ready to make a lasting sensation of one social event, it is just as prone to ignore other phenomena of no less historical importance. The study of the nature and the causes of the social bias, in the broad sense of the word, would be an interesting and grateful task for the so- ciologist, while the analysis of the particular social event must be confined, according to the nature of the latter, to a distinct branch of the so-called Social Sciences. The Chartist Movement is one of the tacitly ignored fac- tors of the social evolution of the nineteenth century. People have always spoken of the personal characteristics of John Russell, Disraeli, or Gladstone, far more than of the aspirations of several million men who believed in, strove and suffered for the cause known as Chartism. By far, more has been written of individuals like Robert Owen and Richard Cobden than of the whole revolutionary movement which embraced a period of more than a decade. The stu- dent, indeed, knows from his history that Chartism was a political movement; that the Chartists fought for "six 7] t 8 PREFACE [g points " which were embodied in the People's Charter. He undoubtedly knows also the funny side of the story, and, to- gether with the writer of his history, mocks those fraudulent fellows, the Chartists, who affixed the signatures of Queen Victoria and a few other high dignitaries to the petition of almost one-fifth of the English nation. Incidentally, one meets some attestation of Chartism as " the only genu- ine, earnest, serious, popular movement in England since the days of the commonwealth," ^ and hears that "the story of the great social movement which is comprised in the history of Chartism is of greater importance than the disputes of the Whigs and Tories." " But it is a rather curious fact that, excepting Gammage's History of the Chartist Movement, which lays no claim to any scientific analysis of the move- ment and its causes, there is not a single work in the English language devoted to the subject which might satisfy the more earnest student. The aim of this work is not only to give a fair and im- partial presentation of the facts, but also to make an attempt at their interpretation and to show their interrelation. The social life oi England during the first half of the last century in all its important aspects will have to be brought into the limelight. The political situation must, of course, serve as a background for the picture of a movement carried on ostensibly for political refomi. But the study of none of the social and political conditions can be compared in weight with the analysis of the strictly economic state of that period. Indeed, whatever we may think of the Materialistic Con- ception of History as a general philosophy, there can hardly be any doubt that in all the struggles of labor, the " bread ' William Clarke, Political Science Quarterly, vol. iii, 1888, p. 555. * Spencer Walpole, History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815, London, 1886, vol. iii, p. 500. g] PREFACE g and fork question " is the very seed of historical causation. Regarding the Chartist Movement primarily as a labor movement and as the first compact form of class struggle, the author, therefore, deemed it necessary, after a succinct survey of the political situation, to devote the first part of his work to a careful examination of the economic condi- tion in general and the labor condition in particular which prevailed in " Merry England " immediately before and during the period of the Chartist Movement. The present monograph comprises only the first stages of the movement. The original intention to publish an ex- tensive study covering the whole period could have been carried out only by going to England for the purpose of collecting additional material. This design was frustrated by the present war. It has therefore become necessary to divide the work into two volumes, the second of which, the author hopes, will appear at a later date. In the preparation of this work, it was considered essen- tial to guard against personal predilections and sympathies. The material was collected with care from first-hand sources ; the facts were presented without any design to fit a pet theory ; and the heroes of the story were allowed to intro- duce themselves and to play their roles without any stage- managing on the part of the historian. It is, perhaps, on account of this impartiality and lack of prejudice that some portraits vary materially from those which have been hither- to drawn. In conclusion, the author wishes to acknowledge his pro- found gratitude to Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman both for the interest he has always taken in this work and for the privilege of using his invaluable collection of Chartist literature and documents. F. F. R. ApKIL 22, I916. CONTENTS PACE Preface 7-9 CHAPTER I Prototypes of Chartism Chartism and the " six points " . 21 Distinct labor movement 21 Expression of class consciousness 21 The Levellers and Cromwell 22 Society of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights . 22 Pitt, the Earl of Chatham 22 Reform bills introduced by William Pitt 22 Stanhope and Major Cartvvright 23 The Whigs and aristocratic clubs 23 Reform bills introduced by the Duke of Richmond and Fox . . . 23-4 Society for Constitutional Inforntatiofi 24 Government coalition in 1783 24 Metamorphosis caused by the French Revolution 24 The Duke of Richmond's letter on equality 25 Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution 25 Thomas Paine's Rights of Man . . 26 The London Corresponding Society 26 Government policy of oppression 27 Suspension of Habeas Corpus act . 27 Radicalism revived after the Napoleonic war 27 The Corn Laws of 1815 27 William Cobbett and the Hampden Clubs 28-30 Society of Spencean Philanthropists 31 Riots and new suspension of Habeas Corpus act 31 Benefit Societies and Botanical Meetings 32 The Manchester Massacre 32 The struggle for freedom 33 The Reform Bill and the National Political Union 33 CHAPTER II The Whig Rule Hopes inspired by the Reform Bill of 1832 34 Ricardo's theory of rent 34 11] II 12 CONTENTS [I2 PACK Burden of taxes 34-5 Selfish motives of manufacturers 34 Reform Bill condemned by " Orator " Hunt and others 35 Lord John Russell, the hero of the Reform Bill 36 Thomas Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union 36-7 Political corruption and inactivity 37-9 Notorious Bedchamber Plot 40 Old Poor Laws 40 Competition between workingmen and paupers 41-2 New Poor Law of 1834 42 The "workhouse tesl" 42 Poor Law Bastiles 42 Opposition to the New Poor Law 43-5 Bill passed under protest . 45 Stringency of administration .... 45-6 CHAPTER HI The New Poor Law Philosophy of the new law 47 Negligence of children on the part of officers ■ • *, 4^ Cruelties perpetrated in workhouses 49 Lord Brougham's frankness SO Cobbett's opinion of the new law 50 Bronterre's tribute to the " ./^c>«^:V-'«t'«5^i?r5 " 50-1 Feargus O'Connor on excessive use of machinery 51 Brougham's hatred of charity 52-3 ' ' Steppmo stone ' ' to total abolition of relief S3 Carlyle's comments S4-S Effects disguised for some time 55 The Irish famine . 55 Distress in the Highlands and Islands 55 Emigration to industrial centres 56 Dwelling conditions in cities 57-8 CHAPTER IV The Universal Distress General unemployment 59-60 Weavers first victims 60 Birmingham deputation 61 Laissez faire policy 61 13] CONTENTS 13 FAOK Condition in agricultural districts 61-2 ' 'A^ot the time ' ' plea against repeal of Corn Laws 63 Rise of prices of wheat 63 Distress among the workingmen 64 Scourge of industrial cities 65 Variation of mortality 65 Progress of crime 66-7 Proportion of commitments to population 67 Persons in receipt of outdoor relief 68 Workhouse inmates 68 Petitions for repeal disregarded 69 CHAPTER V Labor Legislation and Trade Unionism Whigs hostile towards labor legislation 70 Campaign against evils of factory system led by ultra-Tories • . . 70-1 Freedom of contract and laissez faire doctrine 71 Ten Hour Movement 71 Nassau Senior's "last hour" argument 72 Government reports 72 Ashley and his followers. . . 73 Employment of women and children 73-4 Attempts at trade unionism in the beginning of factory system . . 75 The Six Acts of 1819 75 Francis Place and his victory 76-7 New stratagem of labor leaders 77 Influence of Ricardian socialists yy Owenism and Trade Unionism 78 The manufacturers and the Government 79 Nassau Senior's view on combinations and strikes 79 Grand National Consolidated Trades' Union crushed 80 New fight for freedom 81 Apotheosis of political power 81 '^xont^rx^' ^ ciW \ox z grand national movement 82 CHAPTER VI The People's Charter The London Working Men's Association and its objects 84-5 Exclusiveness of the Association 86 Source of social evil 87 "The Rotten House of Commons" 88-9 14 CONTENTS [14 FAGB Missionaries on tour 89 The " Six Points" 90 Crown and Anchor meeting. . 90 Roebuck and other radical members of Parliament 90-1 Committee of twelve 91 Prorogation of Parliament 91 Birmingham Political Union enters campaign 92 Correspondence between William Lovett and Lord John Russell . 92 Address to Queen Victoria 93 Address to American workingmen 94 Preparation of bill by Lovett and Roebuck 95 Publication of " People's Charter " 95 Address on principles of Charter 95-7 CHAPTER VII The Leaders Most auspicious period 98 Two parties in Chartist ranks 98 Policy of moral force 99 Advocates of physical force welcomed lOO Class legislation condemned 100 Discord suppressed for a time loi William Lovett and his early career 102 First London Cooperative Trading Association 102 Follower of Robert Owen 103 Metropolitan Political Union 103 National Union of the working classes 103-4 Founder of London Working Men's Association 104 Personal characteristics 104-5 Feargus O'Connor's early career T05 Quarrel with Daniel O'Connell 106 Personal characteristics . 107-8 Opposed to Communism 109 Machinery the source of all evil no Inclined towards revolutionary policy no Founder of London Democratic Association iio-iii Repudiated terrorists ill Bronterre's early career 112 His account of himself 112-13 Literary activities 113 Admirer of Robespierre and Babeuf 113 Personal characteristics 114 I^] CONTENTS 15 rA9X His view on the franchise 1I4 Theory of nationalization of land II5 His view on private property 117-118 Failed to recognize laws of social evolution and role of the working class 119-120 Thomas Attwood an advocate of moral force 120 Founder of Birmingham Political Union 120 Leader of Birmingham Currency School 120 Advocate of paper money and inflation of currency 120 Henry Hetherington, martyr for free-press cause 121 Poor Alans Guardian and Tivopenny Despatch . . 121 Missionary of the London Working Men's Association 121 CHAPTER VIII The Gospel of Revolt Lovett, the apostle of moral force 122 O'Connor and Bronterre yielded to the inevitable 123 J. R. Stephens, the apostle of revolt 123 His early career 123 His oratory 124 Preached class consciousness and urged insurrection . 124 Resistance to bad laws a virtue 125 His sermon at Newcastle . . 126-7 Opposition to the New Poor Law 129 His allegiance to the Charter 129 Emphasized economic aspects of the movement 129 Attitude of the London Working Men's Association 129 His warning against abortive demonstrations 130-2 Lost his influence . . • 132 C. J. Harney, agitator of physical force 132 Hailed the spirit of Marat 133^4 Henry Vincent, the English Demosthenes I35 His early career I35 Missionary of the London Working Men's Association 135 His popularity 135 John Frost and his early career 136 His imprisonment 136 Adherent of Cobbett 137 Advocate of municipal reform 137 Member of Newport town council 137 Mayor of Newport 137 1 6 CONTENTS [l6 rtjam. Appointed borough magistrate 137 Poor Law Guardian 137 Member of Newport Workingmen's Association 137 Chartist leader 137 His relations with people 137 CHAPTER IX The People State of ominous excitement 138 Underground societies 138 " Foreign AlTairs Committee " at Birmingham 138 Demonstration at Glasgow 139 Thomas Attwood 139 Suggestion of a " sacred strike" 139 Provincial Scotch merchants and manufacturers 139 Newcastle manifestation 140 Defiant speeches 140 Feargus O'Connor 141 Reference to Brougham 141 Appearance of troops causes indignation 141 Meetings at Sunderland and Northampton 142 Addresses by Vincent and others . 142 Birmingham demonstration 142 O'Connor and Attwood 142 Physical force notions introduced 142 Resolutions for National Petition and General Convention . . . 143 Anxiety among leaders of the London Working Men's Association 143 Palace Yard demonstration in London 143 Allusions to physical force 144 Birmingham call endorsed 145 Address of the London Working Men's Association to the Irish people •• ... 145 Manchester demonstration 146 Threats of vengeance .... 146 O'Connor, Stephens and Fielden 146-7 Peep Green demonstration 147 Henry Vincent in the West 147 His supremacy in Welsh territory 147 Torch-light processions 148 O'Connor, Stephens and Harney chief speakers 148 People making arms 149 Stephens at the Hyde meeting 149 17] CONTENTS ly PAGE Lord John Russell's letter declaring torch-light meetings (illegal . 149 His address at Liverpool 149 Royal proclamation trampled under foot 150 Chasm between workingmen and middle class 150 Vincent and female organizations 150 People invoked to prepare arms 151 Military instructions 151 " Science of killing " extolled 151 Agitation among soldiers 152 CHAPTER X The Petition, The Convention and The Government Proposals emanated from the moral force group 153 Equal representation omitted 153 Petition lacking in vigor of expression and definiteness 153 Influence of Thomas Attwood 153 Generous response of men and women 154 Opening of Convention ... 11:4. Objects of Convention I'vl-'; Presentation of National Petition postponed 155 Variety of problems discussed jeg Addresses on the general distress distributed broadcast 156 First collision between opposing factions 156 Lovett elected secretary jeg Missionaries of the Convention je^ The London Democratic Association and Harney 157 Resolutions submitted to Convention ji-7 " Crown and Anchor " meeting cause of hostile criticism 158 Resignation of three Birmingham delegates 158-9 The " million of men" idea jgp Vincent's exhortations to be prepared i5o Resolution of Convention on the right to use arms 161 Government spies jgj Lord Russell and John Frost j5. Frost's defiant letter 162-4 Open hostility between the Government and the Chartists .... 164 Frost's name struck from the roll of magistrates 165 Indictment of Stephens j^c Convention declared an illegal body 161; Arrest of Vincent jgc National Petition and Attwood jgc Convention adjourned to Birmingham 165 1 8 CONTENTS [l8 PAGB Lord Russell's letter to magistrates i66 The Manifesto of the Convention 166-8 Simultaneous meetings ^x\^ "' ulterior measures" 168-9 Advocacy of terror and insurrection 170 London police in Birmingham 171 Recommendations of the Convention to the simultaneous meetings. 172 Success of the simultaneous meetings 172 Reasons for the removal of the Convention to London 173 Resolutions on the sacred month and other measures adopted. . 173-4 CHAPTER XI The Wrestling Forces The Bull Ring attack in Birmingham 175 The spirit of vengeance and terror 176 The resolutions of the General Convention 177 The arrest of Lovett and Collins 177 Prisoners subjected to indignities 178 Proclamation of martial law and wholesale arrests 178 The daily meetings at Holloway Head and other places 178 The Bull Ring riot . 178 Public meetings and resolutions lyq The National Petition in Parliament 179 Attwood's speech 180 Lord Russell's reply 180-2 Disraeli's interpretation of the Chartist movement 182 The division on Attwood's motion 183 The effect of the defeat on the Convention. . • 183 The sacred month resolution passed and rescinded 183 'Qroni&rrts r&so\vit\on on the saci'ed month 184 The recommendation of the committee of five 185 The national holiday a complete failure 186 The dissolution of the Convention 186 Arrests and trials for sedition 186 The theory of the Attorney-General 186 The trial of Lovett and Collins 186 The resolution of the Birmingham Town Council 186 The jury 187 Sergeant Goulburn's "opportunity" . 187 Lovett's address to the jury 187 Comments of the Morning Chronicle on the defence 188 Conviction of Lovett and Collins 188 Convictions of Stephens and other Chartists 189 19] CONTENTS 19 PACK Public meetings and demonstrations i«9 Lovett and Collins subjected to rigorous discipline 189 Petitions in their favor ign Henry Vincent and his imprisonment 190 The jury jgo Remonstrances and protests by Welsh Chartists 190 The Newport Riot loo CHAPTER XH The Newport Riot The role of Frost jqj The plot to release Vincent by force loi The plan of a rising in Yorkshire and Lancashire 191 O'Connor's late warning jq2 Frost's last public letter 102-4 The plan of the Welsh Chartists 104-S Frost, Williams and Jones the chief commanders 195-6 Steps taken by the mayor jqy The progress of the rebels impeded by bad weatl^er 197 The fight at the Westgate Hotel 107-8 George Shell's letter to his parents igq The arrests of the rebel leaders jqg The mayor and constables rewarded 200 The Chartist Convention in Londor: jincl the defence committees . 200 The Special Commission 200 The trials of Frost, Williams, Jones and others 201 The sentence 201 The decision of the Court of Exchequer 202 The anguish of the Attorney General 203 Death sentence commuted to transportation for life 204 Decoration of the graves of the Westgate?victims 204 Imprisonment of Bronterre, O'Connor, and others 205 The distribution of Chartist prisoners 205-6 The government victory 206 The new recruits 207 Appendix A Petition agreed to at the "Crown and Anchor " meeting, February 28. 1837 208 Appendix B The People's Charter 213 20 CONTENTS [20 PAGE Appendix C The National Petition 234 Appendix D Dialogue on war, between a moral force Whig and a Chartist, by Bronterre 239 Index 245 CHAPTER I Chartism means the bitter dis- content grown fierce and mad. ... It is a new name for a thing which has had many names, which will yet have many. — Carlyle. Prototypes of Chartism The term Chartism was coined in 1837 to designate a set of principles which were subsequently embodied in the famous " People's Charter ". Universal suffrage, equal representation, annual parliaments, no property qualifica- tions, vote by ballot, and payment to members — these formed the " six points " which for a number of years eclipsed all other political and social creeds. At its inaugu- ration the movement attracted a number of recruits from the ranks of the middle class. In time, however. Chartism became ever more crystallized as a distinct labor struggle for the reconstruction of society. The form of the de- mands were purely political, but the object was strictly economic. Political equality was proclaimed as the only weapon to secure equality of condition and the abolition of class privilege. The concomitant social equality would then pull down the mountains of wealth and fill up the valleys of want. The task could be effected by the work- ingmen only. Cooperation of the middle class was gener- ally tabooed as spelling imminent treason and danger to the people's cause. It was this expression of class conscious- ness and realization of class interests that distinguished Chartism both from Utopian socialism and from previous democratic movements in England. Long before the Chartist demands were framed in the 21] 21 22 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [22 People's Charter, political reform, of one kind or another, had been urged by the friends of the people. The spirit of democracy, which had been quelled by Cromwell's defeat of the Levellers, revived a century later. Indeed, some of the Chartist "points" were promulgated as early as 1769 by the " Society of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights," which, among other parliamentary reforms, demanded equal representation and annual parliaments. Petitions were for the first time presented to Parliament, protesting that its members were not self-representing individuals, but trusted delegates whose authority ceased the very moment they disregarded the wishes and interests of their constituents. Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, soon pronounced himself a con- vert and professed that " the constitution intended that there should be a permanent relation between the constit- uents and representative body of the people." On the first of May, 1 77 1, he asserted that "the act of constituting sep- tennial parliaments must be repealed. . . . Our whole con- stitution is giving way, and, therefore, with the most delib- erate and solemn conviction, I declare myself a convert to triennial parliaments.'' ^ His son, William Pitt, went even further, declaring that " the restoration of the House of Commons to freedom and independency, by the interposition of the collective body of the nation, was essentially necessary to our existence as a free people " ; that an equal represen- tation of the people by annual elections and the universal right of suffrage appeared to him " so reasonable to the natural feelings of mankind, that no sophistry could elude the force of the arguments which were urged in their favor." The bills which he introduced in 1782, 1783 and 1785 pro- vided for the extension of the franchise to householders, and for the gradual extinction of all rotten boroughs. William Pitt was far from being an extremist among his 1 Chatham Correspondence, edited by W. S. Taylor, Esq., and Cap- tain John Henry Pringle, London, 1840, vol. iv, p. 174. 23] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 23 colleagues. The writings of Stanhope and of Major John Cartwright appeared as early as 1774 and 1776, respectively, and demanded universal suffrage as a natural right. In his Legislative Rights of the Comnionalty Vindicated, Cart- wright argued that " freedom is the immediate gift of God to all the human species," and that the franchise is a pre- requisite of freedom. " The very scavenger in the streets has a better right to his vote than any peer to his coronet, or the king himself to his crown; for the right of the peer and of the king are derived from the laws of men, but the scavenger's from the laws of God ". This idea became so popular that the Whigs began to consider it advantageous to identify themselves with the reformers. Aristocratic clubs, such as the " Constitutional Society ", the " Whig Club ", and the " Society of the Friends of the People ", vied with each other in radicalism and in their emulation of the idealistic maxims of Rousseau and the French En- cyclopedists. In 1780 the Duke of Richmond introduced a bill for universal suffrage and animal parliaments. The preamble contended that since the life, liberty and property of every man is or may be affected by the lav/ of the land in which he lives, no man is, or can be, actually represented if he has no vote in the election of the representative whose consent to the making of laws binds the whole community. The state of election of members of the House of Commons was declared as a gross deviation from the " simple and natural principle of representation and equality." In sev- eral places members were returned by the property of one man while the number of persons who were suffered to vote did not amount to* one-sixth of the whole community. The great majority of the commoners were thus governed by laws to which they had not consented either by them- selves or by their representatives.^ Triennial and septen- 1 Compare this with the preamble of the " People's Charter ". See Appendix B. 24 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [24 nial Parliaments were described as tending " to make the representatives less dependent on their constituents than they always ought to be ". The same year Charles James Fox, the Whig leader and Chairman of the Committee of Westminster Electors, recommended the very same " six points " which were later embodied in the " People's Char- ter ". The " six points " were also urged by the " Society for Constitutional Information ", which included among its leaders a number of the most distinguished members of the English nobility, such as the Duke of Richmond, the Duke of Bedford, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Effingham, the Earl of Selkirk, Lord Mountnorris, and others. The bright prospects of Major Cartwright and his adher- ents, however, soon came to an end. The germs of radical ideas, which had infected the nobility, began to spread also among the lower strata. The alarmed government found itself in a lurch, and its peace of mind had to be bought at the price of coalition in 1783 between Lord North, the representative of the government, and Mr. Fox, the spokes- man of the Whigs. This coalition brought about a com- plete metamorphosis in the attitude of the Whigs, which be- came the more intense during the French Revolution. A feeling of abhorrence swayed the professed reformers against all societies which were suspected of revolutionary ideas. All attempts at parliamentary reform were doomed to crushing defeat. The former illustrious advocate of re- form, Edmund Burke, agreed in this matter with his rival Pitt. In his great zeal he stigmatized the people as a " swinish multitude ", and led the Whigs in their support of the government policy of oppression. The adhesion to the government on the part of the aris- tocracy was the natural reaction of their optimistic ideal- ism which evaporated when brought under pressure of active h'fe. They had believed that the doctrine of " natural, un- 25] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 25 alienable and equal rights " could be disseminated among the people with perfect safety to their own class and tradi- tions. Some even went so far as to contend that "equality" was a safeguard against "levellers". This view was eluci- dated by the Duke of Richmond in the following extract of his letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Sharman : Another subject of apprehension is that the principle of al- lowing to every man an equal right to vote tends to equality in other respects, and to level property. To me it seems to have a direct contrary tendency. The equal rights of men to security from oppression, and to the enjoyments of life and liberty, strike me as perfectly compatible with their unequal shares of industry, labor and genius, which are the origin of inequality of fortunes. The equality and inequality of men are both founded in nature ; and whilst we do not confound the tzvo, and only support her establishments, we can not err. The protection of property appears to me one of the most essential ends of society; and so far from injuring it by this plan, I conceive it to be the only means of preserving it ; for the present system is hastening with great strides to a perfect equality in universal poverty^ The French Revolution led some of the English aristoc- racy to realize that abstract ideas of equality and natural rig Jits meant absolutely nothing to the common people, un- less they went hand in hand with concrete equality in dis- tribution of wealth. Moreover, they learned that the ab- stract idea of natural rights was the treacherous snake that goaded on the people to demand concrete equality, and they determined to avert this at any cost. Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, published in 1790, preached a crusade against Republican France, as well as against French principles in England. The Reflections exerted a 1 The Right of the People to Universal Suffrage and Annual Parlia- ments, August 15, 1783 (published in London, 1817). 26 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [26 deep influence on the men in power, but at the same time gave an impetus to the counter activities of the radicals. The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine, the exact antithesis of the Rejections, gained a wide circulation among the middle and lower classes. The arduous task of reform was taken up by the " London Corresponding Society ", which was founded by Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker. Counting but four members at its inauguration, the first meeting in 1792 was attended by nine individuals, all personally ac- quainted with each other. Encouraged by the endorsement of the Duke of Richmond, the Society jealously began to spread its tenets all over the United Kingdom and, within a short period, attained importance and celebrity as one of the largest radical organizations. The government, in its alarm, was led to believe that " there were evil-minded per- sons in the country, who, acting in concert with other per- sons in France, designed to overturn our happy constitu- tion, and introduce a system of bloodshed and plunder." The war with France in 1793 was primarily a war against Jacobinism, and Pitt, who was always seeing visions of " thousands of bandits ", was logically compelled to combat the foe within the country. Numerous spies were employed to shadow the steps of every suspicious person, and on the testimony of these spies, many were subjected to severe penalties. A certain Mr. Frost, an attorney, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, to stand in the pillory and be struck off the roll, because he had dared once in a coffee- house to declare himself " for equality and no king ". A well-known Mr. Ridgway was sentenced to four years' im- prisonment and £200 fine for selling Thomas Paine's Rights of Alan. The former friends of the " London Correspond- ing Society" began to see treason in its activities. Two dele- gates sent by this society to Scotland in 1793 were arrested, tried, convicted, and transported for fourteen years. In its 27] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM ■ 27 report of 1794, the Secret Committee of the House of Com- mons claimed to have discovered seditious practices. It was this report that was chiefly responsible for the suspension of the habeas cor pits act/ Pitt declared the matter urgent, and the bill was passed at a special sitting the next day after its introduction by the government. Fox openly accused the ministers of a design to terrorize the people in order to shield themselves from the condemnation for involving the country in a disastrous war. The government became in- exorable in its oppression of associations, as well as of individuals. Reform bills were introduced only to encoun- ter ignominious defeat. All reform societies were dis- banded, all public meetings prohibited, and reformers were rendered innocuous either through imprisonment or intimi- dation. For nearly two decades the English people lived, as it were, in a state of internal siege. Radicalism had been crushed to revive again, however, with much greater force, after the war cloud, which hovered over Europe for almost a quarter of a century, was dis- persed at Waterloo. The war made England a world- monopolist. Foreign manufacturers, writhing under the sword of Damocles in their own countries, invested their capital in England which alone was safe from foreign in- vasion. By virtue of the complete monopoly of Great Britain as a water-carrier, English trade was carried on in the remotest parts of the world. All this changed with the end of the Napoleonic career. The demand for English manufactures suddenly shrank, capital was withdrawn, and labor thrown out of employment. The disbanded militia and discharged sailors greatly swelled the ranks of the mi- employed. Symptoms of discontent which were local in the beginning, soon became universal and burst into violence after the passage of the Corn Laws in 181 5. Owing to the 1 C/. Address to the N'ation of 1797 by the "London Corresponding Society," in the English Clmrtist Circular, vol. ii, no. 54. 28 ' THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [28 failure of the harvest and the high import duties, the price of wheat during 1816 rose from 52s. lod. to 103s. yd., and jumped still higher during the first months of 1817/ To urban riots, many of which were not suppressed without bloodshed, and to machine-breaking were added peasant in- surrections and incendiarism. Flags were hoisted with ominous mottoes, like " Bread or Blood " ; " Willing to work, but none of us to beg ". The distress assumed threatening proportions. The attention of Parliament was called to the fact that whole parishes had been deserted, and the crowd of paupers, increasing in numbers as they went from parish to parish, spread wider and wider this awful desolation. The failure on the part of the House of Commons to alleviate the condition of the distressed revived the feeling of hostility towards the government, and political agitators soon emerged from obscurity. Parliamentary reform was again urged as the panacea for all social evils. But this time the demand emanated from a group of men entirely dif- ferent from their predecessors, the reformers of the eight- eenth century. They came not from the ranks of aristo- cracy and they appealed not to aristocracy. They were humble writers of " two-penny trash ", and their writings were intended for the still humbler workingmen. The mem- bers of the radical clubs of the eighteenth century, as Burke aptly argued against them, conceived reform not as a means of expediency and necessity, but as a means of advancing justice. The later reformers cared very little for abstract ideas; they demanded political equality as a necessary weapon in the daily struggle for existence of the lower classes, and their Hampden Clubs became the haunts of courageous men. The writings of William Cobbett " be- 1 Cf. Thomas Tooke, History of Prices and of the State of the Cir- rulation from 1793 to 1837, vol. i, London, 1838, p. 390. * William Cobbett (1762-1835), one of the most prominent and bril- 29] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 29 came the New Testament in almost every cottage in the manufacturing districts. According to his contemporaries, Cobbett's Political Register was read at " meetings of people in many towns, and one copy was thus made to convey the information to scores of persons." liant journalists of the first half of the nineteenth century and one of the most remarkable personalities, was a descendant of a humble family and the son of a laborer, who came to have " laborers under him." He could not remember the time when he did not earn his own living. In 1783 he established himself as an attorney's clerk, but before long the erratic lad began to feel himself shackled by the routine and drudgery of his office. He enhsted in the S4th Foot, and sailed to America, where he stayed with his regiment for seven years. After his discharge he went for a short time to England. There- he accused three of his former officers of fraud, was courtmartialed and fled back to America. He settled in Philadelphia, where he maintained himself and his wife by teaching English to French immigrants. He founded a daily paper, which he styled the Porcupine Gazette, and wrote abusive articles under the pseudonym of " Peter Porcupine." He bitterly attacked the American Republic and the most popular men of the country. His journal soon brought him into trouble and he fled again, this time to his native country, in order to escape the payment of a penalty of 5,000 dollars for libel. In England he was welcomed by the Tories, and with their aid published at first the Porcupine and, then, in 1802, the Register, which led a guerilla warfare with the pillars of society, and which before long obtained the most powerful influence all over the country. The Tories became indignant with his behavior and waited for an opportunity to get square with their former protege. For his severe attack on the government for employing German soldiers to flog English troops who participated in a mutiny, he was indicted for libel, sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined £2,000. This sentence taught Cobbett a useful lesson of which he availed him- self after his release: he learned how to advocate reforms without giving the government prosecutor a probable chance of success. From prison he emerged an extreme Radical and Revolutionist. He earn- estly believed that the social evils would be remedied by political re- forms and stopped short of nothing that aimed at the attainment of these reforms. As a member of Parliament, to which he was elected in 1830, he attacked the New Poor Law, and, with the exception of a few eccentricities which he displayed, as, for example, his prejudice against the Jews and his opposition to the Anti-Slavery movement, he remained till the last, as Southey called him, " an Evangelist of the populace." 30 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [30 In justice to Cobbett, it must be said that originally his idea was to make the people realize the want of reform and to offer constitutional guidance, " combined with firm- ness and temper." He hoped to inspire the masses " with patience and fortitude " and avert their sporadic outbursts of violence and machine-breaking. As to the Hampden Chtbs, they had great faith in " the noblemen and gentle- men "of whom they were composed, and in the several hun- dred petitions to Parliament, asserting that in such wise they will " insure a redress of that intolerable grievance, taxation without representation, which has been the true cause of that universal distress which the nation now suffers." ' The government, however, felt great apprehension at the activities of the clubs. Their perfect organization was in itself something which could not be overlooked. The House of Commons had great cause to be alarmed at the report of its Secret Committee of the 19th of February, 1817, which portrayed the Hampden Clubs as disseminators of rebellion : It appears to be part of the system of these clubs to pro- mote an extension of clubs of the same name and nature, so widely as, if possible, to include every village in the kingdom. The leading members are active in the circulation of publica- tions likely to promote their object. Petitions, ready pre- pared, have been sent down from the metropolis to all so- cieties in the country disposed to receive them. The com- munication between the clubs takes place by the mission of delegates ; delegates from these clubs in the country have assembled in London, and are expected to assemble again early in March. Whatever may be the real objects of these clubs in general, your Committee have no hesitation in stating, from information on which they place full reliance, that in far ^ See the Political Register of Dec. 21, 1816; the Full Report of the Proceedings of the meeting, convened by the Hampden Clubs . . . on Saturday, the 15th of June, 1816; also Samuel Bamford, Passages in the Life of a Radical, London, 1844, vol. i. 21 ] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 3 1 the greater number of them, and particularly in those which are established in the great manufacturing districts of Lan- cashire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, and which are composed of the lower order of artisans, nothing short of a Revolution is the object expected and avowed. As a matter of fact, however, the Hampden Clubs were rather conservative in their demands and moderate in lan- guage in comparison with the "Society of Spencean Philan- thropists," which was instituted in 181 6 for the discussion of " subjects calculated to enlighten the human understand- ing." Besides their opposition to machinery and their doc- trine of communism in land, these " Philanthropists " en- deavored to " enlighten " the people that " it was an easy matter to upset government, if handled in a proper manner." History repeated itself. To paraphrase the " Declara- tion " of the Hampden Club, the want of reform made the people feel, and misery made them speak. Meetings of protest against the government and the notorious riot at Spa Fields brought about the new suspension of the habeas corpus act. As to what this meant, the following lines of Samuel Bamford may bear witness : The proscriptions, imprisonments, trials and banishments of 1792 were brought to our recollections by the similarity of our situation to those of the sufferers of that period. It seemed as if the sun of freedom were gone down and a ray less expanse of oppression had finally closed over us. Cobbett, in terror of imprisonment had fled to America ; Sir Francis Burdett had enough to do in keeping his own arms free ; Lord Cochrane was threatened, but quailed not. Hunt was still somewhat turbulent, but he was powerless. . . . Our Society became divided and dismayed ; hundreds slunk home to their looms, nor cared to come out, save like owls at nightfall, when they would perhaps steal through bye-paths or behind hedges, or down some clough, to hear the news at the next cottage.^ 1 Samuel Bamford, op. cit., vol. i, p. 44. 32 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [32 The suspension of open meetings was followed by the formation of various secret societies aiming at reforms which again were almost identical with those for which the Chartists subsequently fought on penalty of imprison- ment or transportation. " Benefit Societies ", *' Botanical Meetings ", and similar ostensibly innocent associations called for revolution as the only means for redress. The suffering masses were assured that reform would produce economy and consequently diminish taxation, which, in its turn, would enable the workingman to increase his home consumption. Taxation without representation again, as a few decades before, was denounced as the root of all evil. All petitions for reform were, as ever, rejected by the gov- ernment. The wrath of the people, which for some time had been smoldering under the cover of secret meetings, finally broke out in 18 19 in a series of defiant public demon- strations at Birmingham, Leeds, Stockport, Smithfield, and other manufacturing districts, and culminated in the Man- chester Massacre of August 16, 181 9. A large demonstra- tion, estimated at about eighty thousand persons, was indis- criminately attacked by military forces. Unable to pene- trate the compact mass of human beings, the cavalry plied their sabres to clear a way for the yeomanry, who dashed, wherever there was an opening, pressing, trampling and wounding hundreds of men, women and children. The massacre precipitated bitter protests from all over the land. The authorities tried in vain to minimize the real signifi- cance of the outrage by declaring it a mere accident. The working class was overwhelmed with the feelings of re- sentment and of revenge, which were admirably voiced by Shelley in his " Mask of Anarchy " : " And at length when 3'e complain With a murmur weak and vain, 'Tis to see the Tyrant's crew Ride over your wives and you — Blood is on the grass like dew. -,-,j PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 33 Then it is to feel revenge Fiercely thirsting to exchange Blood for blood — and wrong for wrong — Do not thus when ye are strong." Protests passed into action. The agitators declared the Kingdom in a state of Civil War. The general disaffection was attributed directly to the irritation of want and eco- nomic injustice.^ Revolt and anarchy reigned supreme in all manufacturing districts. The agitator Thistlewood found many adherents to his plan to overthrow the govern- ment. Executions for high treason became common events. But nothing could curb the awakened slave, who, together with Shelley, felt that his very life depended on "Freedom" : " Thou art clothes, and fire, and food For the trampled multitude — No — in countries that are free Such starvation cannot be. As in England now we see." The workingmen were taught and led to fight for " clothes, and fire, and food ", and to consecrate their ver>' lives to the cause of freedom, which they confounded with universal suffrage. Mis-government was considered the source of all social evils, and the control of Parliament was, therefore, looked to as the only remedy by which the whole world might be relieved. The French Revolution of 1830 gave a fresh impetus to the popular discontent. The middle classes promptly seized this opportunity to enroll the sup- port of the National Political Unions of workingmen to their Reform Bill. After the passage of the Reform Act of 1832 the political agitation subsided for a few years only to assume a more formidable aspect in the Chartist Movement. ' See Gracchus. Letter to Lord Sidmouth on the Recent Disturbances at Manchester, London, 1819. CHAPTER II The Whig Rule The fourth decade of the nineteenth century was a period of trial for the EngHsh nation and brought a series of bitter disappointments to its lower strata. To begin with, the poli- tical machinery of the Whig rule, which at its inauguration had inspired great hopes, soon fell into a state of stagnation and absolute incompetence. The people, who at the beginning of the decade were all exalted with aspirations for social justice, for equality and fraternity, saw themselves de- serted and their cause betrayed by their standardbearers. The honeyed promises of the middle class, made through their representatives in the beginning, of the thirties, were but the baits of politicians who turned recreant upon the achievement of their object. It became evident that their aim had been simply to w^est the power from the landed aris- tocracy, and to further their own interests. Their craving for political power was in accord with the economic doctrine of rent, which was promulgated by Ricardo, the first mouth- piece of the capitalist class. According to this doctrine, rent is a transfer of wealth from the capitalist to the land- lord; rent and profit fluctuate, therefore, on opposite scales, — ^^the rise in the former necessarily causing a fall in the latter. The scales were controlled by the landlords, and it became a matter of prime importance to reverse this control. The Corn Laws were a thorn in the side of the manufac- turers, and all taxes were attacked as a baneful burden on industry. Sydney Smith gave expression to this sentiment in his characteristic style: 34 1 34 35] THE WHIG RULE 35 The schoolboy whips his taxed top, the beardless youth man- ages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road, and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine which has paid 7 per cent into a spoon that has paid 15 per cent, flings him- self back upon his chintz bed which has paid 22 per cent, makes his will on an £8 stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothe- cary who has paid a license of £100 for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from 2 to 10 per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are de- manded for burying him in the chancel. His virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble, and he will then be gath- ered to his fathers to be taxed no more. There were, indeed, few who during the fight for the Reforai Bill realized that the interest of the manufacturers in the reform movement was actuated by selfish motives. The organ of the radical group of the working class, the Poor Man's Guardian, had on various occasions, in 183 1 and 1832, warned the laborers that " the bill will only increase the influence of landholders, merchants, manufacturers and tradesmen ", and that it was the " most tyrannical, the most infamous, the most hellish measure," as the poor " will be star^^ed to death by thousands if this bill pass, and thrown on to the dunghill, or on to the ground, naked like dogs." ^ The national Union of the Working Classes denounced the bill as a mere expedient " to deceive the people, and no ways calculated to better the condition of the working people." " Orator " Hunt - was even more emphatic in his condemna- 1 See " Last Warning on the Accursed Reform Bill," in the Poor Man's Guardian, April 11, 1832. '"Orator" Henry Hunt (1773-1835), at one time the friend of Cob- bett and a member for Preston, was a Somersetshire gentleman and a liveryman of London. In his youth he was committed to the King's Bench Prison for six weeks as a penalty for a duel which he had fought with Lord Bruce. In prison the young Tory came in contact with some discontented persons and listened to a great deal of inflammatory 36 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [36 tion of the bill, root and branch, as an instrument of restric- tion and as an attack on the poor. But Hunt was de- nounced as a " demagogue " and " egotist ", while Lord John Russell, the hero of the Reform Bill, was almost uni- versally applauded for his speech in favor of the bill. He showed the absurdity and the crying injustice of the system of election which had prevailed in England and which had allowed a " green mound " or a " stone wall, with three niches in it ", to send two members to Parliament, while large flourishing towns, full of trade and activity, contain- ing vast magazines of wealth and manufactures had no representation.^ The sympathies of the masses were de- cidedly in favor of the bill. With the exception of a small radical faction, the workingmen rallied round Thomas Att- wood, the leader of the Birmingham Political Union, who, according to Francis Place,' was then regarded " the most influential man in England ", and who was credited with having worked the hardest to carry the Reform Bill. The secret, however, soon leaked out that the working class had been hoodwinked. Before long the Whig leaders began to speak of their old popular allies, " the Birming- ham fellows ", with affected indifference and open hostility. They hated to be reminded of the National Political Union, talk, which decided his future activities, and he emerged a thorough rad- ical. He was " the best mob orator of the day, as Francis Place puts it, and his uncompromising views and actions gained him the name of "demagogue " from his opponents, on the one hand, and of " champion of liberty" from the lower classes, on the other. He played an im- portant role in the riots of 1816, and was usually referred to as the hero of Spa Fields and the Peterloo Massacre. His gigantic figure and carriage, as well as his histrionic manner of talking, rendered him an idol of the masses, and, while hated by the well-to-do people, he found solace in the love and devotion of the oppressed and poor. 1 Cf. Lord John Russell's spedch of the ist of March, 1831, in Han- sard's Parliamentary Debates, third series, vol. ii, pp. 1061-1089. 2 Cf. infra, p. 76. 37] THE WHIG RULE 37 which had elevated them into power. Lord Melbourne confessed his strong opposition to " any radical measure or radical colleagues "/ The treachery on the part of the Whigs was the more revolting because of the false expec- tations they had raised : It is painful, at this day, — testifies a contemporary reformer — to look back upon the delirium of joy which followed the suc- cess of this effort for real representation. That long, loud, universal shout of gladness which shook the earth and rose up to heaven, gave testimony to the hold which the idea had taken of the nation's heart. Wisely was it concealed from them at that moment of excitement, that they had scotched the snake only, not killed.- The protest against the Act of 1832 was spontaneous on the part of real reformers. It was assailed for having opened up "a sluice gate of the most intolerable oppres- sion ". The object of the bill was condemned together with its sponsors. " The men who made the Reform Bill were not fools; neither were the middle classes, for whom it was made. The Whigs saw, and the middle classes saw, that the effect of the bill would be to unite all property against all poverty." ^ Thomas Attwood, who had exerted the greatest influence to secure the passage of the Reform Act, declared that he regretted that he had worked for the reform which brought " troops of sycophants and time- servers " to the legislative chamber. The Whigs were stamped as a party for the dishonest, for the timid and for the unscrupulously ambitious, and their rule as the suprem- acy of the " hypocritical, conniving and liberty-undermin- ing Whigs ". 1 J. T. Bunce, History of the Corporation of Birmingham, Birming- ham, 1878, vol. i, pp. 128-9. * Tract published by the Complete Suffrage Union, The Rise arid Progress of the Complete Suffrage Movement, London, 1843. ^ Bronterre's National Reformer, Feb. 11, 1837. 38 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [3S The attitude of the radicals towards the ruHng party can be seen from the characteristic picture drawn in one of the Chartist papers under the caption " What is Whiggery?" ^ A Whig is a poHtical shuffler, without honor, integrity, or patriotism. Dissimulation, selfishness, and baseness are his prime moving principles. In private life he is a stately despot, and a surly tyrant ; cunning, hypocrisy, and falsehood are too frequently familiar to his mind, and he sometimes treats his workmen (if he has any) more like a gang of convicts than a useful band of honest, independent mechanics. If, as some- times happens, they refuse to submit passively to his injustice and cruelty, they are persecuted and reviled, and compelled to seek refuge from his malignancy beyond the limits of his arbitrary authority. . . . When the Whig is a mighty poli- tician, he courts public favor, smiles graciously on the people, makes glorious promises of reform, cajoles and flatters them, until he gets them to assist him in advancing his selfish schemes. But he treats them with ingratitude and contempt, when they afterwards remind him of his obligations and request him to perform them. The commissions of inquiry became a byword of political corruption and inactivity : Set them to make a report on any public subject, give them, for example, a brief to fill up against the poor and the Poor Laws, and they will do it to their employer's satisfaction ; it is their vocation faithfully to serve those by whom they are paid, or hope to be paid, and little of conscientious responsibihty to truth or justice is felt in the execution of the appointed task.^ The rampant political favoritism was also strikingly satir- ized by Sydney Smith, when he said that if you met a Whig, * The Chartist Circular, May 2, 1840. * The Black Book: An Exposition of Abuses in Church and State, Courts of Law, etc., London, 1835, appendix, p. 61. 39] THE WHIG RULE 39 whom you had never seen before, your doubt was " not whether he was a commissioner or not, but what the depart- ment of human Hfe might be into which lie had been ap- pointed to inquire ". The hero of the Reform Bill, Russell himself, who in 1831 accused the landlords of usurpation of power in violation of the Constitution of the country, according to which " no man could be taxed for the sup- port of the State who had not consented, by himself or his representative, to such tax ", soon became an accomplice to such usurpation, derided the demand for universal suffrage and went down in history with the well-deserved nickname of "Finality Jack"/ The Whigs became even more unpopular after their elec- tion in 1835. They had come in on promise of retrench- ment and, instead, they increased taxation ; they had vowed reforms and, when in power, forced upon the people the odious New Poor Law. The assertion that " Whigs and Tories are the two thieves between which this nation has been crucified " ^ was not the conviction of but one indi- vidual. The Reformed Parliament discussed everything except what Carlyle styled " the alpha and omega of all questions ", — " the condition-of-England question ". The reformers were satisfied, as the bard Praed puts it : To promise, pause, prepare, postpone. And end by letting things alone. In short, to earn the people's pay, By doing nothing every day. The ruling party was detested not alone by the radicals. Ex-Chancellor Lord Brougham, who despised the latter, 1 ' The nickname was derived from a phrase of his speech of June 23, 1837, in which he referred to the Reform Bill as a " fmal measure." * See R. W. C. Taylor, Notes of a Tour in the Manufacturing Dis- tricts of Lancashire, London, 1842, p. 271. 40 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [40 expressed the sentiment of many a conservative when he said in 1839: '' I have Httle thought to have hved to hear it said by the Whigs of 1839, ' Let us rally round the queen; never mind the House of Commons; never mind measures; throw principles to the dogs; leave pledges un- redeemed ; but, for God's sake, rally round the throne '." Disraeli also laid great stress on the irresponsibility of the Whigs, although he exaggerated the significance of the political causes in the Chartist movement/ The Whigs were crushed by their own incompetence and treachery even as early as 1838. The notorious " Bedcham- ber Plot ", which brought down a tempest of ridicule on the heads of the chivalrous Whigs, gave them a chance for shelter " behind the women's petticoats ", but only for a short time. The people, disgusted with their perfidy, lost all confidence in them and overwhelmingly defeated them at the nex< election. Their rule, however, was the more ignominious because of the great economic distress and physical and moral degeneration which prevailed during their administration without any serious attempt being made by the government at alleviation. Indeed, so appall- ing was the wretchedness as to be almost beyond credence, were it not for official records of that period. This wretch- edness was, to a great extent, the direct result of the New Poor Law of 1834 and its administration by the Whigs. The chicanery and bribery on the part of the landlords, and the fraud and perjury on the part of the paupers, fostered by the old Poor Laws, made their repeal impera- tive. The industrial, as well as the agricultural districts, were turned into headquarters of permanent pauperism with all its revolting consequences. Riots, incendiarism, as- sault and murder became common events. Under these * See Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, third series, 1839, vol. xlix, pp. 246-251. 41 ] THE WHIG RULE 4I laws the able-bodied and efficient pauper was denied the right of voluntary choice of settlement. The kind of work and his income w^ere fixed by the magistrates, who could very seldom ascertain the man's previous earnings. The parish authorities w^ere demoralized to the very marrow and looked upon the parish as upon their prey. The pauper had to be satisfied not only with the master they had chosen for him, but also w'ith the woman they had made him marry. The injudicious provisions and application of the old laws put a premium on laziness and pauperized not only indigent men, but also the respectable classes of mechanics : I am every week astonished by seeing persons come whom I never thought would have come, — reports Mr. Chadwick, one of the Poor Law Commissioners. — The greater number of our out-door paupers are worthless people ; but still the number of decent people who ought to have made provision for them- selves, and who come, is very great and increasing. One brings another; one member of a family brings the rest of a family. . . . Thus we have pauper father, pauper wife, pauper son, and pauper grand-children frequently applying on the same relief-day. . . . Indeed, the malady of pauperism has not only got amongst respectable mechanics, but we find even persons who may be considered of the middle classes, such as petty masters, small master bricklayers.^ The bulky volumes of the Report of the Commission, of which Nassau Senior was a member, proved quite conclu- sively that the very foundation of English economic life was in jeopardy. Since every employer could choose be- tween a workman solely dependent on his wages and a pauper, whose earnings were supplemented by the parish rates, it was but natural that only the latter should get em- ployment, thus dragging down wages and increasing the 1 Reports from Commissioners, 1834, vol. xxvii, p. 26. 42 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [42 army of professional paupers. " The surplus labourer is driven by the overseer into the market to compete with the regular workman," — writes an investigator, — "his work is offered at a reduced price, or he is even billeted, and his pay entirely derived from the rates. With this cheap laborer the regular one can stand no chance ; he is undersold in his own market, and his only property, the work of his hands and the sweat of his brows, is wrested from him".^ Furthermore, the Report of the Poor Law Commissioners shows that a more or less self-respecting and industrious laborer, who had managed to lay by a part of his wages for a rainy day, was refused work. " till his savings were gone ; and the knowledge that this would be the case, acted as a preventive against savings ". Pauperism which reached a menacing point in 1832, when one person out of every seven was receiving relief, put the very life of the nation at stake, and became most destructive of the family and of society.^ The repeal of the old laws was urgent also be- cause the growth of industry and the development of the factory system needed complete mobility of labor, which the law of settlement made impossible.^ Something had to be done, some remedy had to be found, and the reforms of 1834 were proclaimed the panacea for the social evil. The chief ingredient of the remedy has since become known as the workhouse test. All relief, either in money or in provisions to able-bodied persons, was declared illegal ex- cept when rendered in public and well-regulated work- houses, or, as the poor classes called them, " Poor Law Bas- tiles ". ^ William Day, An Inquiry into the Poor Laws and Surplus Labor, and their Mutual Reaction, London, 1832, p. 16. 2 See Report from Commissioners, 1834, vol. xxvii, pp. 45 and 54. * See in this connection the Extracts from Information received by Her Majesty's Commissioners, as to the Administration and Operation of the Poor Laws, London, 1833, pp. 271-272. 43] THE WHIG RULE 43 The sudden change caused by the New Poor Law, which was strenuously opposed, among other representatives, by the friend of the poor, WilHam Cobbett, and by the then young and uninfluential politician Disraeli, naturally intensi- fied the hatred of the poor toward the property-owners and still more opened the eyes of the working classes to the fathomless gulf between themselves and the Liberals, into whose hands they had unsuspectingly put the reins of au- thority. When the bill was still pending, the uncompromis- ing Cobbett emphatically declared that the object of the bill was " to rob the poor man to enrich the landowner ",^ and this opinion became current all over the vast stretches of the misery-infested land. The glove which was cast to the non-possessing classes, challenging them indiscrimi- nately either to become prisoners or to starve, was picked up with threatening air, first, in the House of Commons, by a few friends of the people, and then by the people them- selves. Representative Leech warned the House that the new law would inevitably render the breach between the rich and the poor wider than it had hitherto ever been,"^ while representative Hodges prophesied trouble with the unemployed laborers. " To be sure, the discontented might be put down if they were in the wrong", he said; "but when they had justice on their side, and were goaded on by their grievances, the recollection of any collision between them and the police or soldiery to put them down would be never effaced from their minds ".* Still more threatening was the speech of Thomas Attwood in the House of Com- mons on the nth of August, 1834: The people had a right to claim relief if they did not obtain ' Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxiv, 1834, p. 105 1. * Ibid., pp. 1059- 1060. * Ibid., p. 1030. 44 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [44 employment, — as good a right as the noble Lord had to the hat on his head. If the people were prevented from living honestly, they would be justified in living dishonestly. . . . For the law said, and it was a principle of our Constitution, that obedience was to be contingent upon protection, and that where no protection was given no obedience could be exacted.^ The indignation with the New Poor Law grew apace be- cause of the stringency of administration which provoked Mr. Harvey, representative for Southwark, to stigmatize the new law as " one of the most cruel, heartless, and sel- fish bills that ever was passed into a law ", and to declare that the funds " were administered with the most barbarous and heartless severity ". Another representative called it the New Poor Law Murder Bill. Daniel O'Connell, the famous Irish patriot, was so much impressed by the ac- counts of the sufferings endured by the poor through the New Poor Law that he concluded that the alleged remedy was worse than the disease, and vigorously, though vainly, fought its introduction in Ireland. An amendment of the old Poor Laws was inevitable, but the precipitate break with the established system could not but entail disastrous results. The Poor Law Commissioners, then known under the nicknames of " bashaws of Somerset House " and " concentrated icicles ", were apparently so dejected by the evils of an institu- tion which threatened degeneracy to the whole nation, that they could not avoid the unhappy but common mistake of substituting one extreme for another. Repre- sentative Robinson was perfectly right, when he attacked the third reading of the bill on the ground that the " odious and cruel measure " contained no single feature which held out the least prospect or hope to the poor, no single provi- ' Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxv, p. 1224. 45] THE WHIG RULE 45 sion which would give additional employment to the des- titute, and that it treated all able-bodied laborers alike. The poor man, he argued, would be told, " you must either go into the workhouse or we cannot give you relief ", and the effect of such a system, which made no distinction whatever between honesty and immorality, between the imbecile and the able-bodied, would be perilous.^ These voices of warn- ing, however, fell on deaf ears. The bill was passed under protest," and hardly had the people time to realize what had taken place in the Houses, when the local '' Dogberries " began to treat them with barbarous cruelty. The discipline which was at once introduced in the workhouses fell like a thunderbolt on many a wretched family. Aged men found themselves separated from their wives and imprisoned in the workhouse, where the inmate was never allowed to forget that he was under strict orders, and where he was compelled to live on a diet frequently insufficient for the 1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol, xxiv, 1834, p. 1042. ' The protest which was enterevi by some members of the House of Lords against the passing of the Poor Laws' Amendment Bill con- tained, among others, the following reasons : " I. Because this Bill is unjust and cruel to the poor. It imprisons in workhouses, for not working, those who cannot, by the hardest labor, obtain wages sufficient to provide necessaries for their wives and children, although the want of employment and the low rate of wages have been occasioned by the impolicy and negligence of the Government. . . . " 4. Because we think the system suggested in the Bill, of consoli- dating immensely extensive unions of parishes, and establishing work- houses necessarily at great distances from many parishes, and thereby dividing families and removing children from their parents, merely be- cause they are poor, will be found justly abhorrent to the best feelings of the general population of the country; and especially inasmuch as it introduces the children of the agricultural poor to town poorhouses, it will conduce greatly to the contamination of their moral principles, and be calculated to prevent their obtaining in youth those habits of industry most likely to be beneficial to them in after-Hfe." See ibid., vol. xxv, 1834. PP- 1098-9. 46 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [46 bare sustenance of life. Mothers were dragged away, like criminals, from their infants; sick men and women were made to walk long distances for relief, some of them expir- ing on the way. Tears and starvation became the poor man's lot.^ The unfortunate inmates of the poorhouses were even denied the consolation of religion, being deprived of the liberty of attending houses of worship. Such were the reforms introduced during the Whig rule. ' The literature of the day became permeated with expressions of indignation, of which the following lines by Maurice Harcourt, written in 1837, may serve as an example : " Tears ! Tears are the portion of the Poor, For the great ones fain would see how much they can endure; And to prove their pity never fails, They have built the wretched union gaols. Where King Starvation reigns supreme, And plenty is a pauper's dream ! And 'mid this mockery of life iLingers the pale yet lovely wife, Torn from her first and dearest tye, In this abode of gloom to die." CHAPTER III Oh ! glorious was that mortal's skill, Who first devised the Poor Law Bill, To teach in this enlightened time, That poverty's the vilest crime. — Maurice Harcourt. The New Poor Law The philosophy of the New Poor Law, borrowed from James Mill, was based on the Malthusian economic doctrine. To aid the people who did not reserve seats at nature's feast meant to injure others who had better claims. The com- missioners who were entrusted with the enforcement of the New Poor Lavv' thoroughly understood their mission which was once stated by Dr. Kay at a public meeting. He said bluntly : '* Our intention is to make the workhouses as like prisons as possible, and to make them as uncomfortable as possible." '" These intentions were, indeed, carried into- ef- fect with a faithfulness worthy of a better object. The im- pression made by the description of the poorhouses is ap- palling, and even Mr. T. W. Fowle, the ardent advocate of the New Poor Law, vainly tries to conceal his confusion in an array of words, and the following lines sound like mockery: "Wise men will note with satisfaction that the use of the rod is not forbidden in the case of naughty boys. . . . The privilege of flogging enjoyed by children of the upper classes is denied to paupers above the age of four- teen." - The description given by Mr. Fowle of the effect 1 Hansard, vol. xli, p. 1014. 2 T. W. Fowle, The Poor Law, London, 1881, p. 139. 47] 47 48 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [48 of promiscuous aggregation on the poorhouse inmates and especially on the children, restrained as it is, presents a lurid picture of mental and moral contamination/ The criminal negligence of children, who were maintained in the workhouses, on the part of the officers was exposed by a surgeon in his letter to Lord John Russell." Emaciation was evident in almost all the eighty children within the walls of the workhouse of St. James: The picture is almost too horrible to describe. I found the children with large heads, tumefied bodies, shrivelled and wasted limbs mostly in a sitting posture, with their legs crossed — and I found upon enquiring of the nurse . . . that any change from this position occasioned them pain, and caused them to cry. . . . They have, in short, become rickety from the want of exercise and, I fear, an insufficient supply of wholesome nourishment. . . . Languid and feeble circulation, and other marks of general debility, are strikingly apparent. . . . The sight was truly appalling. ... It is quite clear that such an uniform character of disease among so many children, the offspring of different parents, must be the result of the particular manner in which these children have been nursed and maintained. . . . They are unfortunately too young to tell their own tale; but although their intellects are not suffi- ciently matured to give this information, their appearance and condition bespeak it but too powerfully. I do not hesitate to declare my firm belief that their wretched condition is the result of either an insufficient supply of food, or a supply of improper food, and a want of exercise. . . . Either of these 1 Fowle. op. cit., pp. 142-144. See also on this point Sidney and Bea- trice Webb, The Break-Up of the Poor Law: Being Part One of the Minority Report of the Poor Lazu Commission, London, 1909, chap. i. 2 On the punishment and treatment of children by the workhouse authorities, see also speech of representative Ferrand in Hansard, op. cit., third series, vol. Ixvi. pp. 1226-1228. 49] THE NEW POOR LAW 49 causes, or the combination of them, is adequate to the pro- duction of the effects it has been my unhappiness to witness.^ The cruelties perpetrated in various workhouses were di- vulged by non-partisan men, such as the Rev. William Carus Wilson, who submitted to the legislature his report on the " wanton cruelty of the officers of the New Poor Laws." ^ These official statements and the accounts given by the London Times and many local opposition newspapers af the crimes committed by workhouse officials, together with the imaginative pathetic pictures of Oliver Twist and other workhouse heroes of fiction, did not fail to provoke uni- versal detestation of the new system of poor relief. The indigent actually shrank with fear at the thought of the workhouse, and in many cases preferred to starve rather than enter the " Bastiles." The net result was that as a matter of fact (the large towns excepted) they (the work- houses) do not contain in many cases half, in some not a quarter of the inmates for which they were built, so that the waste in keeping up large unfilled establishments, each with an expensive staff of ofBcers, is very great, indeed; thus the salaries and rations of officers (including, however, that pro- portion which is spent in the administration of out-relief) is considerable over a million, while the total maintenance of in- door paupers is only about a million and three-quarters} The defenders of the New Poor Law did anything but en- lighten the non-possessing classes on the real significance and desirability of the new measure. In his long and ela- * T. J. Pettigrew, A Letter to the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, on the Condition of the Pauper Children of St. James, Westminster, Lon- don, 1836, pp. 11-12. * William Carus Wilson, Remarks on Certain Operations of the New Poor Laws, Kirkby Lonsdale, 1838. * Fowle, op. cit., p. 141. 50 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [50 borate speech which he delivered in the House of Lords on July 21, 1834, the Chancellor Lord Brougham, the father of the Bill, extolled the wisdom of Malthus and declared with brutal frankness that the New Poor Law was intended as a preventive check on the unlimited increase of popula- tion/ This declaration, coupled with his express hatred of charitable institutions and his cynical denunciation of hospitals for old age, called forth a storm of indignation. As ever, the undaunted Cobbett came out with a character- istic reply : " The great object of the Bill," said he, was to teach the poor to live as man and wife, without having any children. This was a base and filthy philosophy, and yet a book had been published showing the means of carrying the principles of Malthus into effect. Every farmer knew that the effect of the Bill was to take away the poor rates from the poor, and to put them into the pockets of the landlords.^ Cobbett's erroneous view that the Poor Law was enacted for the benefit of the landlords was shared by many of his radical colleagues. Their hatred of the landed aristocracy rendered them utterly incapable of realizing the importance and the advance of the new capitalist class. It was Bron- terre, subsequently the " school-master " of Chartism, who attacked the new law as an instrument of exploitation by the manufacturers. In the first number of his National Re- former, dated January 7, 1837, he writes : Cur work-people, both agricultural and manufacturing, are already ground down as low as commercial avarice can grind them, without exterminating them altogether; yet the money- monster is not half satisfied. As a last resource, this monster has now passed a New Poor Law Act, to make the laborers ■■ Hansard, op. cit., vol. xxv, 1834, pp. 211-251. ' Ibid., p. 1216. 5i] THE NEW POOR LAW 5I live on coarser food, or on no food at all — an Act which treats the victims it has impoverished as other states treat convicted felons — an act which gives a felon's garb, a felon's fare, and a felon's gaol to the broken-down man whose toil has en- riched the monster, and whose only crime is that he did not strangle the monster a century ago. . . . Yes, my friends, the New Poor Law Act is the last rotten blood-stained prop by which the money-monster hopes to sustain the tottering fabric of his cannibal system — of that merciless system, which first makes you poor in the midst of wealth of your own producing, and would then bastile and starve you for the fruits of its own barbarity. This view was subsequently elaborated by most of the Chartist writers. Feargus O'Connor, the foremost Chartist leader, attacked the new law on the ground that it was both a result and a cause of the excessive use of machinery : This act was framed by Lord Brougham, as the champion of the middle classes, who were most strongly represented by the steam producers, and it was framed purposely with a view to seduce those into a delusive market who would have risen in their might and annihilated any government that dared thus violate their trust by the commission of wholesale plunder, had it not been for the safe retreat promised to the abandoned in the artificial market. It is the nature of man to use all means to better his situation, and the poor countryman who gave up his house and home under the compulsion of the Poor Law Amendment Act, in the hope of going to a permanent situation, was unconscious in the " hey-day " of manual labor, as then applied to infant machinery, that each improvement in the one would be a nail in the coffin of the other. Estates were cleared of willing immigrants seduced by the spirit of the moment, and when anticipation had failed, they then framed the strin- gent rules under which the hellish law had placed them, when they sought for an asylum in the parish of their fathers. Had it not been for machinery, the Poor Law Amendment Act ^2 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [52 never would have passed — nay, never would have been ventured upon, because the whole force of popular indignation would have been directed against the general plunder, while opposition was much mitigated in consequence of the casual provision which machinery offered as a substitute; thus has the Poor Law Amendment Act been another direct effect upon ma- chinery.^ From the point of view of social causation, it is, indeed, utterly irrelevant whether or not the advocacy of the New Poor Law was prompted by personal or by class interests. It must be conceded that, whatever the motives might have been, the object of checking poverty and moral degradation was commendable. The fundamental propositions of Lord Brougham were mere truisms, " that men should be paid according to the work they do " ; that men should be em- ployed and paid " according to the demand for their labor and its value to the employer," and that " they who toil should not live worse than those who are idle." ^ However, when one puts himself in the position of the poor contem- poraries of the Lord Chancellor who, directly or indirectly, were concerned in, and aff^ected by, the new law, he must as- sume a different attitude. Blinded by his extreme hatred of charity, — even assuming that this hatred was nurtured not by a bad heart, but by sentiments of a public-spirited man * — the noble Lord displayed his feeling in a way which the common people could not help but abhor. It must have been brazen-headedness, if not hard-heartedness, to come be- fore one army of destitute men and women who were dis- * English Chartist Circular, no. 64. " Hansard, op. cit., vol. xxv, 1834, p. 218. ' The Lord Chancellor was apparently afraid of passing into history with the reputation of a hard-hearted and short-sighted man, and grasped the opportunity at the next discussion to correct this impres- sion. See Hansard, vol. xxv, p. 436. 53] THE NEW POOR LAW 53 placed, like so many useless tools, by the new machinery, and before another still greater army of men who were compelled by the order of the land to shun decency and regard thrift and savings as a thing for which they would be punished by the parish with unemployment, — it must have been fanatical blindness to come before the nation with an argument like the following: Sickness is a thing which a provident man should look forward to, and provide against, as part of the ordinary ills of life. . , . But when I come to hospitals for old age — as old age is before all men — as every man is every day approaching nearer to that goal — all prudent men of independent spirit will, in the vigour of their days, lay by sufficient to maintain them, when age shall end their labor. Hospitals, therefore, for the support of old men and old women, may, strictly speaking, be regarded as injurious in their effects upon the community.^ This speech brought forth an outburst of disgust and anta- gonism, and was made most use of by the Tories as well as the Radicals. The sponsors of the New Poor Law, however, treated with cruel disregard all the protests and warnings of their fellow members of Parliament and other antagonists. Far from heeding the petitions of the people, they rejoiced at the result achieved immediately after the enforcement of the new provisions. The idea of the framers of the bill, which, to use Cobbett's words, was meant " as a stepping stone to a total abolition of all relief for the poor'V seemed to approach realization, inasmuch as both the number of applicants for relief and the amount of relief itself were at once con- siderably reduced. It is true that the relief officers had to quell many a riot in the new unions ; but this little dampened 1 Hansard, op. cit., vol. xxv, 1834, pp. 221-222. " Ibid., vol. xxv, 1834, p. 1216. , 54 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [54 the hopes of the commissioners, since the suppression was not a difficult task/ The stepping-stone proved to be of great avail, as the reduction of the poor rates in thirteen of the largest parishes reached twenty per cent the first year.^ The expenditures for poor relief were fast sliding down- ward, as may be seen from the following table : ^ Relief of the Poor Year. Pounds. 1832 7,036,968 1833 6,790,799 1834 6,317,255 183s 5.526,416 1836 4,717,629 1837 4,044,741 The commissioners, of course, could not deny that the progress of the change had been highly favored by the prosperous state of the manufacturing districts and especi- ally by the cheapness of provisions which marked the first half of the decade.* Yet they had great faith in a system which was shunned by the people from the very start. In the Faringdon Union alone, for example, work- house relief was offered to 240 able-bodied laborers, of whom not more than twenty entered the house, and not more than one-half of the latter remained there longer than a few days.^ These were good signs for the friends of the New Poor Law, and, to use Carlyle's sarcastic comments on the Re- ports of the Poor Law Commissioners, " a pleasure to the friend of humanity ". ' See First Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Eng- land and Wales, 1835, pp. 35-36. * Ibid., p. 26. * See Third Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, etc., 1837. * See Second Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, etc., 1836, p. 33. * See First Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, etc., p. 27. 35] THE NEW POOR LAW 55 One sole recipe seems to have been needful for the woes of England : " refusal of out-door relief ". England lay in sick discontent, writhing powerless on its fever-bed, dark, nigh des- perate, in wastefulness, want, improvidence and eating care, till like Hyperion down the eastern steeps, the Poor Law Com- missioners arose, and said, Let there be workhouses, and bread of affliction and water of affliction there ! It was a simple in- vention ; as all truly great inventions are. And see, in any quarter, instantly as the wails of the workhouse arise, misery and necessity fly away, out of sight, — out of being, as is fondly hoped — and dissolve into the inane ; industry, frugality, fertil- ity, rise of wages ; peace on earth and good will towards men do, — in the Poor Law Commissioners' Reports, — infallibly, rapidly or not so rapidly, to the joy of all parties, supervene.'- The effects of the new measure were more or less dis- guised by the general condition of prosperity. Before long, however, they emerged to the surface. The crisis of 1836 and the series of bad harvests that followed it ushered in a period of the most abject misery. The notorious Irish famine and the distress in the highlands (Scotland) could not but augment the universal penury. After the crop of 1836 had been entirely cut off, the inhabitants of the highlands and the islands were left without potatoes, their staple article of food, almost at the beginning of winter. The grain crops could not ripen because of the general wetness of the soil, while those which partially did ripen w^ere destroyed by the severe autumn gales and were rendered entirely useless even for the cattle. It was reported, with the fear of being rather " under the mark than of overshooting it ", that two-thirds of the population " are now, or will be long before the com- mencement of the next crop, without a supply of either kind of food at home, and will have to look to foreign sources to ^Thomas Carlyle, Chartism, London, 1840, p. 16. 56 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [56 prevent starvation." ^ The official report of the Agent- General for Emigration, dated July 29, 1837, stated expli- citly that, owing to the decline of the fisheries and the break- ing up of the kelp trade, by which the bulk of the population lived, the majority of the people had become ''a clear super- fluity in the country." ^ This superfluity of human beings had to emigrate from their native places in order to avoid starvation. Ireland, in the judgment of the commissioners of 1836, was one great lazarhouse, and the Irish poor crossed over in crowds to England, congested every large town, or rambled over the country, offering their services on any terms which might induce manufacturer or farmer to employ them. Emigra- tion also became a prominent feature among the English peasantry. Man hunted for a refuge from the lurking enemy — hunger. Goaded on by the illusion that clings to dis- tant places, people abandoned their hovels and turned nomads. The characteristic attributed by Adam Smith to man as being "of all sorts of luggage the most difficult to be transported," which was strikingly true even as late as 1837, changed, as if by magic, under the severe economic pres- sure of the subsequent year. In his report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Agent-General for Emigra- tion from the United Kingdom relates that Dr. Galloway had to travel over a considerable part of Wiltshire, Dorset- shire, Hampshire, and the eastern part of Sussex, in order to secure a sufficient number of passengers for a small public ^Distress in the Highlands (Scotland). A letter addressed to Mr. Fox Maule by Mr. Robert Graham, and communicated by Lord John Russell's direction to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. London, 1837; pp. 1-2. " Report of the Agent-General for Emigration on Applicability of Emigration to Relieve Distress in the Highlands, dated July 29, 1837, London, 1841, p. i. 57] THE NEW POOR LAW 57 vessel which sailed in June, 1837. In the autumn of the same year a vessel was allotted to the county of Norfolk, but the whole party, with the exception of only three fami- lies, changed their minds at the last moment. Circum- stances were much changed in 1838. The government agents found no difficulty whatsoever in filling four ships from the county of Kent alone, and many applicants had to be rejected for want of room/ Emigration filled all channels and especially those leading to the industrial cen- tres, which before long inevitably became infested with the most noisome quarters. In the very center of Glasgow, — writes the superintendent of the police of that city, — there is an accumulated mass of squalid wretchedness. . . . There is concentrated everything that is wretched, dissolute, loathsome and pestilential. These places are filled by a population of many thousands of miserable creatures. The houses in which they live are unfit even for sties . . . dunghills lie in the vicinity of the dwellings ; and from the extremely defective sewerages, filth of every kind constantly accumulates.^ In 1837 one-tenth of the Manchester and one-seventh of the Liverpool population lived in cellars, and most of them in courts with only one outlet.^ In Bury, the population of which was 20,000, the dwellings of 3,000 families of workingmen were visited. In 773 of these dwellings the families slept three and four in one bed; in sixty-seven, five and six slept in one bed, and in fifteen one bed ac- commodated six and seven persons.* In Bolton there * Report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, from the Agent- General for Emigration from the United Kingdom, 1838, p. 6. 2 Hansard, op. cit., 1843, vol. Ixvii, p. 69. ' Ibid., 1838, vol. xxxix, p. 383. * Ibid., 1840, vol. li, p. 1226. 58 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [58 were, in 1840, 1,126 houses untenanted. In one case, seventeen persons were found in a dwelling about five yards square. In another, eight persons, two pairs of looms and two beds were found in a cellar, four by five yards, and six feet under the ground.^ In Rochdale, five-sixths of the population had scarcely a blan- ket among them.' The chief commissioner of the police force in Manchester stated that in one room, totally desti- tute of furniture, three men and two women were found lying on the floor, without straw, and with bricks for their pillows. The stipendiary magistrate of the Thames Police Office reported similar observations. The descriptions of dwelling houses " with broken panes in every window- frame, and filth and vermin in every nook, with walls black with the smoke of foul chimneys, with corded bed-stocks for beds, without water," ^ appears less shocking in comparison with the statements made by other witnesses. The dwellings in the rural districts were even worse than those in the cities. In one place a father, mother, married daughter with her husband, a blind boy of sixteen, a baby, and two girls, all occupied one room.* In another place a man of about sixty years of age was found living in a cow stable, without windows, floor, or ceiling, where the rain dripped through the rotten roof, and dung-heaps lay near his door. 1 Hansard, op. cit., vol. Iviii, pp. 31-32. * Ibid., vol. lix, p. 635. ' Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of Great Britain, London, 1842, pp. 133-135. ^ Hansard, vol. Ixxiii, pp. 882-884. CHAPTER IV Child, is thy father dead? — Father is gone: Why did they tax his bread? — God's will be done. — Mother has sold her bed, Better to die than wed; Where shall she lay her head ? — Home she has none. — Ebeneser Elliott. The Universal Distress The appalling living conditions of the poor was the im- mediate result of the general unemployment that prevailed in all parts of the country. The hand-loom weavers were the first victims of the depression of trade. As early as April 23, 1837, the Manchester Times recorded that " the distress has now reached the working classes. In this town and its neighborhood, many of the factories are working only four days a week, and some thousands of hand-loom weavers have been discharged ". The investigation made by the government showed that during the winter of 1837- 1838 an almost unprecedented number of looms had been thrown into disuse not only in Manchester, but also in Spitalfields and other manufacturing centers.^ Another commissioner reported that the applicants for relief were mostly able-bodied men with families, and widows with children, all of whom were driven to seek parish assistance 1 Report by Mr. Hickson on the Condition of the Hand-Loom Weav- ers, Presented to Parliament by Her Majesty's Command, 1840, p. 4. 59] 59 6o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [6o through lack of employment.' Dr. Kay's Report of 1837 on the distress of the Spitalfields weavers stated that out of the 14,000 looms, one-third were not used, while the remaining number were only partially employed. The manufacturers themselves estimated that the decrease in the work executed amounted to one-half the quantity ordinarily produced, and that the aggregate weekly wages of the weavers shrank from £10,000 or £12,000 to £5,000 or £6,000. The effect of this stagnation of trade can be real- ized when we bear in mind that even at their best, i. e- when employment was constant and regular, the weavers were, according to the report, so destitute of resources that the employers had to advance them money from week to week to defray the current expenses of their families.^ The wages of the luckier weavers who retained their places were reduced from twenty-five to thirty per cent. The annual loss to the poor in nominal wages in Bolton alone was esti- mated in 1 841 at £130,000.^ The unoccupied houses in Preston numbered 1220, while in Oldham, out of the 7853 houses and shops, 1200 were empty as a result of total or partial unemployment.* The industrial depression spread like a plague from town to town and from industry to industry, tightening its grip on England for more than half a decade. In Birmingham the labor aristocracy, the iron workers began to feel the ^ Report by Edward Gulson, respecting Nottingham, to Poor Law Commissioners, 1837, p. 7- * James Ph. Kay, Report, Relative to the Distress Prevalent among the SpitalHelds Weavers, to the Poor Law Commissioners, London, 1837, pp. 1-2. On the want of employment of the hand-loom weavers in Scotland, see Assistant Hand-loom Weavers^ Commissioners' Report of 1839, pp. 8-5. 8 Hansard, op. cit., vol. Iviii, p. 31. * Ibid., pp. 593-594. 6i] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 6l pinch of bad times in the early part of 1837. In March of that year a deputation submitted to Lord Melbourne a memorial, signed by " merchants, manufacturers and other inhabitants " of Birmingham, in which " the serious and immediate attention of His Majesty's Government " was solicited to the " general state of difficulty and embarrass- ment, threatening the most alarming consequences to all classes of the community ". The government was advised that " unless remedial measures be immediately applied, a large proportion of our population will shortly be thrown out of employment "/ The laissez-faire policy, however, was not abandoned, and no serious attempt was made to save the situation, with the result that by the end of 1842 there was hardly a single industry which was not in a critical state.^ Archibald Prentice testifies that in 1841 there were 20,936 persons in Leeds, " whose average earn- ings were only elevenpence three-farthings a week. In Paisley, nearly one-fourth of the population was in a state bordering upon actual starvation. In one district, in Man- chester, the Rev. Mr. Beardsall visited 258 families, con- sisting of 1029 individuals, whose average earnings were only sevenpence halfpenny per head per week." * The agricultural districts could by no means boast of better conditions. The investigation of the state of three typical families of husbandmen in the union of Ampthill revealed that the means of living had been reduced, in money, from is. 8d. a head per week in 1834 to is. 2^d. in 1837, notwithstanding the fact that the work of these hus- bandmen had been increased from an aggregate of 39 weeks ' Bronterre's National Reformer, March 18, 1837. 2 See Hansard, op. cit., vol. Itx, p. 62,6, and vol. Ixiii, p. 1128. ' Archibald Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, London, 1853, vol. i, p. 270. 62 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [62 in 1834 to 142 in 1837. Moreover, this does not tell the whole story. The command that money had over bread in these two years must be taken into consideration. The average price of wheat in 1834 was 46s. 2d. per quarter, while in 1837 it reached 55s. gd. The purchasing power of the earnings of the three families (which in 1834 and 1837 numbered 17 and 21 souls respectively) was 32 quar- ters of wheat, or i8>4 pints per week for each person in 1834; whereas in 1837 their income could purchase only 233^ quarters of wheat, i. e., 11 pints per week for each per- son. In other words, the actual wages fell 41 per cent in comparison with the wages in 1834 which even then were far from adequate for a decent livelihood.^ The investi- gation of the state of forty-eight families of husband- men of the Ampthill union whose employment had been irregular, showed, that, notwithstanding the 760 weeks more work done in 1837 than in 1834, they suffered a reduction in their weekly money income per head of from IS. io>4d. during 1834 to is. 6d. in 1837, or 20 per cent in nominal wages, and in the purchasing power of the latter expressed in wheat, a weekly reduction from 20% pints per head in 1834 to 13% pints per head in 1837, or a net reduction of 34 per cent.^ The sur- vey of thirty families of the same union, whose employment in husbandry had been regular during the years 1834- 1837, revealed a similar result. The average weekly reduction in their actual wages, expressed in terms of wheat, fell from 23 I -10 pints to 17 3-10 pints per head, while the reduc- tion of the income of ten of these families reached 32 per ' See Twenty-third Report from the Select Committee on the Poor Law Amendment Act, London, 1838, appendix B, pp. 34-35- ^ See Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Reports from the Select Committee on the Poor Lazv Amendment Act, London, 1838, appendix A, pp. 44-45. 53] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 63 cent, and one family numbering seven persons had to subsist on only i}id., i. e., i 3-10 pints of wheat per day/ The Whigs came into power pledged to reforms which they could hardly accomplish. The campaign for the Re- form Bill of 1832 carried with it a promise for the repeal of the Corn Laws which had been condemned as fostering the monopoly of landowners. On his death-bed, Jeremy Bentham rejoiced that the Reform Bill would assure the triumph of free-trade. In spite of their pledges, however, and in spite of the many petitions in favor of the repeal of the Corn Laws, the reform Parliament and the reform ministers put up the " not-the-time " plea and energetically fought such repeal. Instead of ameliorating the condition of the poor, the government continued its laissez-faire policy, and allowed the misery of the working class to be exceedingly aggravated by the relentless rise of prices of wheat. Table I Year. Price of Wheat per Quarter. 1836 39^. 5d. 1837 52s. 6d. 1838 55s. 3d. 1839 6gs. 4d. 1840 6Ss. 6d. The value of the imported wheat in 1836 was o.i per cent of the whole import of Great Britain, whereas in 1839 wheat was twenty per cent of the entire value of imports, reaching 1 Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Reports, op. cit., appendix B, pp. 46-47. Concerning the condition of six laborers in other parishes of the same union, see Twenty-eighth Report from the Select Committee on the Poor Law Amendment Act, London, 1838, appendix, pp. 24-25. The subsequent Reports of the Committee endeavored to weaken the impression produced by the former Reports, and sophisticated methods were employed to discredit not only the conclusions but even the veracity of Mr. Turner, a former member of the Committee. 64 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [64 a sum never exceeded before (£10.5 million). This rise in the price of wheat taxed the working population of Bolton, for instance, as much as £195,000, which together with the reduction in wages amounted to a net loss of £325,000/ It goes without saying that this sudden rise in the price of wheat, due primarily to the high import duties, at the time of a well-nigh universal state of unemployment, robbed many families of the bare necessities of life. In one case a man was seen standing over a swill tub, into which was thrown the wash for the pigs, and taking several pieces out and eating them with a voracious appetite.^ A farmer testified that about twenty females from Crompton and Shaw, near Oldham, begged him to allow them to disinter the body of a cow which had been buried a day and a half. Upon his permission the women " disinterred the body, cut it into pieces, took it to their respective families, who not only ate heartily of the carrion, but declared the meat to be the best they had tasted for many months past ".^ In Johnstone mothers were witnessed who divided a farthing salt herring and a half-pennyworth of potatoes among a family of seven; others mixed sawdust with oat- meal in making their porridge, to enable each to have a mouthful, while still other families lived for ten days on beans and peas and ears of wheat stolen from the neigh- boring fields.* Children wrangled with one another in the streets for the offal which well-to-do people did not allow their dogs to eat. Starving families seized the vilest sub- stances which could protract for a few hours their miserable existence. Half-dressed wretches crowded together to save 1 Hansard, op. cit., vol. Iviii, p. 31; vol. Ixiii, p. 1125. '^ Ibid., vol. Iviii, p. 595. ^ Ibid. See also affidavit to the same effect in vol. Ixiii, p. 36. * Ibid., vol. lix, p. 759. 65] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 65 themselves from the pain of cold. Several women were found in the middle of the day imprisoned in one bed under a blanket, because as many others who had on their backs all the articles of dress that belonged to the party were out of doors/ Colonel T, P. Thompson, describing in the Sun the distress he witnessed in Bolton in 1841, says: I think I know what is the minimum of help by which horse, ass, dog, hog or monkey can sustain existence, and where it must go out for want of appliance and means of living. But anything like the squalid misery, the slow, moulding, putrify- ing death by which the weak and the feeble of the working classes are perishing here, it never befel my eyes to behold, nor my imagination to conceive." Such conditions being the rule and not the exception, there is little wonder that various diseases took root in the poor quarters and became the scourge of all industrial cities. Consumption and febrile diseases of a malignant and fatal character, together with plagues, prevailed in almost every house, and raised the mortality of the population to a point threatening almost racial extermination. The Reports of the Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of England, as well as the Parliamentary Reports, contain an amazing mass of evidence to that effect. In Liverpool, for example, the average longevity of the gentry and profes- sionals in 1840 was 35 years; that of business men and skilled mechanics, 22 years, while that of day-laborers, oper- atives, etc., was only 15 years. The variation of mortality in different districts of the metropolis in 1838 amounted, according to the first annual report of the registrar-general, to 100 per cent. The report of one of the medical officers ^ Report on Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of Great Britain, 1842, p. 24. * Quoted by Archibald Prentice, op. cit., vol. i. p. 270. 66 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [66 stated explicitly that the dwelling condition in Liverpool was the source of many diseases, " particularly catarrh, rheumatic affections, and tedious cases of typhus mitior, which, owing to the overcrowded state of the apartment, occasionally pass into typhus gravior ". The cellars es- pecially became hot-beds of epidemic diseases. In 1837 the same medical officer attended " a family of thirteen^ twelve of whom had typhus fever, without a bed in the cellar, without straw or timber shavings — frequent substi- tutes. They lay on the floor, and so crowded, that I could scarcely pass between them ''. In another house, fourteen, patients were found lying on boards, and during their illness, had never removed their clothes.^ Nassau W. Senior testi- fied that he had found in Manchester a whole street follow- ing the course of a ditch, because in this way deeper cellars could be had without the cost of digging, and that not a single house of that street had escaped the cholera." The extent of the spread of diseases in industrial centers can be realized from the fact that the total number of patients admitted to the dispensaries in the Manchester district dur- ing the six years ending in 1836 was 54,000, whereas the total number of those admitted during the six years of dear food ending in 1841 reached 169,000, — an increase of over 200 per cent." The opponents of the New Poor Law pointed out repeat- edly that the new measure would propagate crime. Cobbett was particularly emphatic on this point. Robbery, murder and violence would become a matter of dire neces- ' See Report on the Ilandloom Weavers, 1841, vol. x, p. 350; cf. also Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of Great Bf'itajn, 1842, pp. 17-25. ' Nassau W. Senior, Letters on the Factory Act to the Rt. Hon. the President of the Board of Trade, London, 1837, p. 24. . 3 Hansard, op. cit., vol. Ixiii, p. 1124. 6;] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 67 sity, prophesied he/ " What remains for the laborer but plunder?" — protested another. — "There is no law for a starving man — there is no tie of conscience or principle binding on a famished wretch who hears a wife and chil- dren clamorous for food." " The prophecies soon became facts. Offenses of the most heinous nature spread with epidemic rapidity over the whole country and especially in the manufacturing districts. The total expense for suppres- sion of crime in 1841 amounted to the enormous sum of £604,165, the expense for a single convict being equal to the cost of education of one hundred and seventeen children. The loss by plunder at Liverpool alone amounted in that year to £700,000.^ The progress of crime can be seen from the following table :* Table II Year Populatien of England and Wales % of In- crease each year Number of commit- ments Proportion of commitments to population % ofln- creaie each yean 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 14,909,000 15,105,000 15,307,000 15,511,000 15,718,000 15,927,000 16,141,000 1 20,984 23,612 1 23,094 24.443 27,187 27,760 31.309 I m 710 I in 639 I in 662 I in 634 I in 578 I in 673 I in 516 1.3 1-3 1-3 1-3 1-3 1-3 8-3 1 2.5 — 2.1 5.8 II. 2 2.1 12.8 Total increase 1,232,000 10,325 49.2 during period 1 Hansard, vol. xxiv, p. 1052. * George Stephen, Letter to the Rt. Hon. Lord John Russell on the Probable Increase of Rural Crime, London, 1836, p. 4. * Hansard, vol. Ixvii, p. 66. * See Official Report of 1846, no. 460, in vol. xxv. The increase of population as deduced from Census returns is even smaller. Thus, according to the Census reports, the total population in 1836 was 14,- 758,000, and in 1842, 15,981,000 — an increase of 12,000 less than in our table. 68 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [6^ Of the commitments of 1842 not less than 8,591, or nearly 28 per cent, were made in the two manufacturing districts of Lancashire and Middlesex, including London, although the population of those districts was far from constituting such a large percentage of the total. The offi- cial report of Lancashire showed that the increase of crime in that district was nearly six times as great as that of the population. The Poor Law Commissioners could boast of the effect of their measures which brought about an annual average saving of a couple of millions in the expenditures for poor relief. But England paid too high a price for these sterling pounds by forcing multitudes of people into the " bastiles ". The wretchedness of the situation can be gauged from the growing number of workhouse inmates as shown in the fol- lowing table. Bearing in mind that nothing but actual star- vation could force the people to entetr the relief-prisons, such an increase tells a sorry tale. Within five years the work- house population of England and Wales almost doubled. Table 111 ' Year Persons in receipt of outdoor relief 997,000 1,030,000 1,108,000 1,196,000 1,300,000 Cumulative Increase during the period Cumula- tive per cent of^ increase 1 Persons in work- 1 houses 1 Cumulative Increase during the period Cumulative per cent of increase Difference in the per cent of increase t8iq j 1 140,000 1 69,000 192,000 223,000 239,000 1840 1841 1842 1843 ... 33,000 111,000 199,000 303,000 3-3 II.O 20.0 30-3 29,000 52,000 83,000 99,000 20.7 37-0 59.3 70.7 17.4 26.0 39-3 40.4 Table III shows clearly that while the stringent adminis- trators of the New Poor Law began to discern the hand- * This table is constructed on the basis of data given in Hansard, op. cit., vol. Ixv, p. 367, vol. Ixvi, pp. 1178-1179, and in George Nichols' History of the English Poor Law, London, 1854, vol. ii, p. 375- 69] THE UNIVERSAL DMSTRESS 69 writing on the wall and granted out-door relief to a greater number of applicants than immediately after the introduc- tion of the new measure, their ideal means of succor was still the workhouse. And all this in face of the universal indignation which was manifested throughout the whole country. There is no wonder, then, that Tory politicians, as well as radical friends of labor, were remorseless in their denunciation of both the Whigs and their New Poor Law. The hatred displayed by the Tories was nurtured by their instinctive fear of the newly-formed capitalist class which began to assert its power in quite an arrogant way. But it was this very acquisition of power by the middle class that caused the apprehension of the radicals. Their name was legion who believed with Bronterre, even as early as 1837, that the object of the New Poor Law was to reduce labor " to the lowest rate of remuneration at which exist- ence can be sustained ". The new class was pictured as a band of " the greatest tyrants over the people ", since " the most formidable, as well as the most remorseless of all despotisms, is the despotism of money ".^ The last session of Parliament in 1838 was bombarded with petitions bearing the signatures of 269,000 persons who requested the repeal of the new measure, whereas only thirty-five petitions with 952 signatures were presented in favor of retention of the New Poor Law. The people felt themselves outraged and expressed their resentment at public meetings, some of which w^ere attended by crowds whose numbers were estimated at 300,000.- The Whigs, however, were not to be daunted, and the party in power continued to remain brutally heedless to the desperate cry of millions of men and women. ^ See Bronterre's Xatioiial Reformer, January 28, Feb. 11 and March 18, 1837. 2 Hansard, op. cit., vol. xli, 1838, pp. 1003-1006. CHAPTER V iCall Chartism by what name you will, its principles have sprung from the infant blood of EngUsh children; and though you water them with the blood of miUions, yet, by the God who made us all equal, I swear that I will take the little childreh, their fathers, and their mothers, out of your toils and grasp, or die in the attempt! — Feargiis O'Connor. Labor Legislation and Trade Unionism The working class was keenly disappointed in the Whigs for their hostile attitude towards labor legislation. It was the ultra Tories, Richard Oastler, Michael Thomas Sadler and Lord Ashley ^ who led the campaign against the 1 Richard Oastler (1789-1861), the "king of the factory children," was a Tory and an advocate of the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. He led the agitation for the ten-hour day from 1830 on- wards. In 1830 he began his series of fiery letters to the Leeds Mer- cury, and afterwards to the Leeds Intelligencer, on the " Yorkshire Slavery." He vigorously opposed the New Poor Law, and was im- prisoned for debt in 1840 ; the Whigs repeatedly offered to pay his debt and confer other favors upon him if he would give up his agita- tion against the Poor Laws. He refused to make any deal with his conscience, and for three years remained in prison, whence he pub- lished his Fleet Papers, in which he incessantly urged the need of fac- tory reform and the abolition of the Poor Laws. Michael Thomas Sadler (1780-1835), Tory, philanthropist and writer on political economy, introduced a bill for restricting child labor in 1831. He was chairman of the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the condition of the children employed in factories, and his solic- 70 [70 yi] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM yi evils of the factory system and demanded the amelioration of workmen's conditions. The Short Time Committee was justly described as a curious " combination of Socialists, Chartists and ultra Tories "/ but the Whig representatives were at all times conspicuous by their absence from among those who fought the people's battle." . The fight was forced on the advocates of labor legisla- tion by the condition of the men, women and children who were employed in factories. It started at the time when the employers' demand for freedom of contract was in com- plete harmony with the laisses-faire doctrine of the econo- mists. This doctrine proclaimed it a " natural law " that employers and employees should be allowed to make what arrangements they pleased between themselves, without in- terference on the part of the government. It required a kind of philosophical courage, besides a warm feeling for the exploited, to oppose the then prevailing notions of social justice. When the Ten-Hour Movement grew stronger, the ethical and abstract ideas were left to take care of themselves, and the opponents of the movement began to promulgate the economic or commercial argument for which Nassau Senior stood sponsor. The whole ques- itous and unremitting work was said to have been a contributing causa to his premature death. Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, afterwards Lord Shaftesbury (1801-1885), Tory, became interested in factory children in 1832 and introduced a Ten-'Hour Bill in 1833. He was the most zealous advo- cate of labor legislation and an ardent social reformer. ^ The Leeds Mercury, March 23, 1844. * The most prominent leaders in the agitation against child labor, be- sides Oastler, Sadler and Ashley, were the Rev. J. R. Stephens, the Chartist leader ; John Doherty, the general secretary of the Federation of Cotton Spinners, a Chartist ; George Condy, the editor of the Man- chester and Salford Advertiser; Philip Grant; and later the radical John Fielden, who took Lord Ashley's place during his temporary re- tirement from the House in 1846. 72 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [72 tion was then presented from the point of view of economic expediency. Starting with the assumption that in the cotton manufacture " the whole profit is derived from the last hour " , and that "if the hours of working were reduced by one hour per day, net profit would be destroyed ; if they were reduced by an hour and a half, even gross profit would be destroyed ", — Senior reached the ingenious conclusion that it was in the interest of the working classes themselves to oppose the reduction of the hours of labor, which would be " attended by the most fatal consequences ". As to the exertion and overwork, Senior thought that the work of children and young persons in the cotton mills was " mere confinement, attention and attendance ", and it was scarcely possible to feel fatigue after " extremely long hours " of work.^ This last view of Mr. Senior was, to say the least, a pre- posterous denial of actual conditions. The government re- ports, as well as the accounts in contemporary newspapers and magazines, tell quite a different story. Dr. Kay, him- self an opponent of state interference with the hours of labor, depicts the condition of the factory laborer in the following lines : " Whilst the engine runs the people must work, — men, women and children are yoked together with iron and steam. The animal machine — breakable in the best case, subject to a thousand sources of suffering, — is chained fast to the iron machine, which knows no suffering and no weariness." ^ Another opponent of the factory act, Mr. Roebuck, wrote from Glasgow in 1838 that he visited a cotton mill where he saw a sight that froze his blood. ^ Nassau William Senior, Letters on the Factory Act, London, 1837, pp. 12-13. ' James Philip Kay, Moral and Physical Conditions of the Operatives Employed in the Cotton Manufacture in Manchester, 1832, p. 24. 73] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 73 The place was full of women, young all of them, some large with child, and obliged to stand twelve hours each day. Their hours are from five in the morning to seven in the evening, two hours of that being for rest, so that they stand twelve clear hours. The heat was excessive in some of the rooms, the stink pestiferous, and in all an atmosphere of cotton flue. I nearly fainted.^ The employment of women and children was attacked by Ashley and his followers on the ground that it inevitably breaks up the family. Of the 419,560 factory operatives in Great Britain in 1839, for instance, 192,887, or 46 per cent were mider eighteen years of age; the 242,296 females included 112,192 girls under eighteen years of age. Only 96,569, or 23 per cent, were adult male operatives." Women were reported to return to the factory three or four days after confinement and dripping wet with milk while at work. The pestilent atmosphere and the inevitable contact of many people in one work-room had a detrimental effect on the morals of the factory employees. In Man- chester three-fourths of such employees at the age of from fourteen to twenty years were reported unchaste."^ An estimate of sexual morality, — writes one of the commis- sioners, — cannot readily be reduced to figures ; but if I may trust my own observations and the general opinion of those with whom I have spoken, as well as the whole tenor of the testimony furnished me, the aspect of the influence of factory life upon the morality of the youthful female population is most depressing.* ^ R. E. Leader, Life of Roebuck, quoted by B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison in the History of Factory Legislation, Westminster, 1903, pp. 91-92. 2 See Ashley's Speech of March 15, 1844, in Hansard, op. cit., vol. Ixxiii. ^ Cf. Report from Commissioners Appointed to Collect Information in the Manufacturing Districts, 1834, Cowell Evidence, p. 57. * Ihid., Hawkins' Report, p. 4. 74 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [74 The report of the Select Committee also brought to light many facts in regard to the employment of children in factories. Children of five years of age were very few, but there was a considerable number of six-year-old and a still greater number of seven-year-old children; the great- est number, however, consisted of children of from eight to nine years of age. The working-day frequently lasted from fourteen to sixteen hours, and the children were under a cruel discipline of overseers who enforced authority by corporal punishment. The extremely long hours of work brought with them, Mr. Senior's assertion to the contrary notwithstanding, most serious consequences not only from the point of view of morality, but also from a purely physio- logical standpoint.^ The commissioners' report contains abundant evidence of the horrible effect of the factory sys- tem on the population. Children were deformed, often seized naked in bed by overseers and driven with blows to the factory ; women were made unfit for child-bearing ; men were crippled ; whole generations afflicted with disease. It was these monstrosities that roused the friends of the people to exclaim against the factory system. The discontent of the laborers, crude and sporadic in the beginning of the Indus- trial Revolution, assumed all the aspects of social war which stratified the population of Great Britain with marvelous rapidity. Criminal offenses against property were super- seded by strikes, abortive and irresponsible in the beginning, but becoming ever more organized and systematic, as the divorce between the functions and interests of the employer and those of the workman became more inevitable with each stride of the capitalist regime. ■■ Cf. ibid., Dr. Loudon Evidence, pp. 12, 13 and 16; Drinkwaler Evi- dence, pp. 72, 80, 146, 150 and 155; Power Evidence, pp. 6^ and 66-69; Sir D. Barry Evidence, pp. 6, 8, 13, 21, 44 and 55 ; TufneU Evidence, pp. 5, 6 and 16. 75] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 75 Attempts at trade unionism were made even in the be- ginning of the new factory system. Adam Smith had already observed that " people of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in conspiracy against the public or in some contrivance to raise prices "/ There certainly were such " conspiracies " among the members of the working class. As early as 1806 the government reported the ex- istence of some kind of a national union of clothworkers with a central committee at the head.' Benefit clubs and other associations were formed at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries both for the purpose of carrying on parliamentary agitation against the factory owners and for industrial combination and class struggle. Parliament, of course, was persistent in its laisserj-faire policy and, in spite of the persevering demands of the operatives for a minimum rate of wages and a legal limitation of the number of apprentices, the House of Commons was more than once carried in the interests of members whose factories swarmed with children. Indus- trial combinations of workmen being legally forbidden and severely prosecuted during the first quarter of the nine- teenth century, artisans were forced into a system of con- spiracy against employers and of cruel treatment of non- unionists. The attempt of the workingmen at organized political agitation against the Combination Laws was imme- diately crushed by the notorious " Six Acts " of 1819. These laws suppressed well-nigh all public meetings, im- posed a very high stamp duty on all labor publications and stringently enforced the law on seditious libels, thus exposing authors or publishers to the penalty of banishment from all ' Wealth of Nations (MoCulloch's edition, 1863), book i, chap, x, p. 59. ^ See Report of the Committee on the Woollen Manufacture, 1806, p. 16. 76 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [76 parts of his Majesty's dominion or of transportation to special places, if anything was printed which was not to the taste of the government. There was, on the part of the latter, an evident determination to resort to nothing but force. " They think of nothing else " — protested a member of Parliament, — " they dream of nothing else; they will try no means of conciHation; they will make no attempt to pacify and reconcile; force — force — force — and nothing but force ".^ Radicalism was repre- sented as a spirit, " of which the first elements are a rejec- tion of Scripture, and a contempt of all the institutions of your country, and of which the results, unless averted by a merciful Providence, must be anarchy, atheism, and uni- versal ruin ".- Radicals were accordingly branded and treated as traitors. " Orator " Hunt and Cobbett, the her- alds of the English labor movement, were abused, mal- treated, and, therefore, driven to extremes. Even Francis Place,^ the champion political wire-puller and labor lobby- * Tierney in the House of Commons, as quoted in Walpole's History of England, vol. i, pp. 516-517. ^ Walpole's History of England, vol. i, p. 426. 'Francis Place (1771-1854), a master tailor, was the son of a brutal father, who, to amuse himself, used to knock his children down. In 1808 Place became acquainted with James Mill and Bentham, and soon became their pupil, associate, and friend; with Bentham, he was on affectionate terms. In their letters they used to address one another, " My dear old father," and " Dear good boy," respectively. Since 1818 he devoted all his time and energy to the agitation for the repeal of the Combination Laws and to the Reform movement, and proved himself a remarkable politician. His shop at Charing Cross was the center of the radicals and reformers, and his " Civic Library " was a kind of rendezvous for members of Parliament and social agitators of all sorts. He was to a great extent responsible for the diffusion of the Benthamite ideas among the English-speaking people. His role in the repeal of the Combination Laws was that of an organizer and political wire-puller. He was a great collector of social, economic and labor facts, and his invaluable manuscript records are now in the possession of the British Museum. A not inconsiderable portion of the economic tracts collected and annotated by him is in the library of Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman. ►r^] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 77 ist. for a long time could hardly secure a hearing in Parlia- ment. But his victory in 1825, securing to the working class the right of collective bargaining, proved mere sec- tional combination ineffective as long as the government machiner}-' remained in the hands of the employers. Then came the reform of 1832 which substituted one set of politi- cal masters for another, and dampened the enthusiasm of the working class for political reforms. For a time the stratagem of the labor leaders was conducted on an exclu- sively industrial plan and the social war acquired a still more formidable aspect. Trade unionism became the battle- cry of the friends of the laborers, and the employers were thrown into a state of extreme apprehension. New hopes were infused into the hearts of the lowly, and a new creed was given them by Robert Owen and his followers- Palia- tive remedies in the form of social legislation began to be despised. There was a bigger thing for the working class to do — to reconstruct the whole society on a new basis. The practical Utopia of Owen was backed by the theo- retical doctrines of the then popular socialist writers. Charles Hall's admirable work The Effects of Civilization on the People in European States preached a social crusade, while William Godwin's Political Justice pointed to the system of private property as the root of all social evil. The writings of William Thompson, Thomas Hodgskin. John Gray, and the minor so-called Ricardian socialists, taught the propertyless that labor was the only universal measure and characteristic distinction of wealth and that labor should, therefore, enjoy the whole produce of its ex- ertions, while, on the other hand, every individual who did not apply his o-wn hands to the factors of production, — all merchants, manufacturers, clerks, shopmen, directors, superintendents, — was a direct tax upon the manual 78 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [78 laborer/ All these doctrines strongly tended to promote the formation of Owenite societies. A characteristic description of the Owenite intoxication of that period is given by Francis Place: The nonsensical doctrine preached by Robert Owen and others respecting communities and goods in common ; abundance of everything man ought to desire, and all for four hours' labor out of every twenty- four; the right of every man to his share of the earth in common, and his right to whatever his hands had been employed upon ; the power of masters under the present system to give just what wages they pleased; the right of the laborer to such wages as would maintain him and his comfort for eight or ten hours' labor; the right of every man who was unemployed to employment and to such an amount of wages as has been indicated — and other matters of a similar kind which were continually inculcated by the workingmen's political unions, by many small knots of persons, printed in small pamphlets and handbills which were sold twelve for a penny and distributed to a great extent — had pushed politics aside, . . . among the working people. These pamphlets were written almost wholly by men of talent and of some standing in the world, professional men, gentlemen, manufacturers, tradesmen, and men called literary. The con- sequences were that a very large proportion of the working people in England and Scotland became persuaded that they had only to combine, as it was concluded they might easily do, to compel not only a considerable advance of wages all round, but employment for every one, man and woman, who needed it, at short hours. This notion induced them to form them- selves into Trades Unions in a manner and to an extent never before known. - The wage-earner, however, soon experienced a bitter dis- ^ See Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman, " On Some Neglected British Economists," in the Economic Journal, vol. xiii, 1903. ' See Sidney and Beatrice Webb, History of Trade Unionism, 1902, pp. 141-142, 79] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM yg appointment which he felt the more because of his high aspirations. Taught by the gospel of Utopia to despise specific, regulative and immediate remedies, and to strive for one which would apply to all social evils and to all in- iquities, he acquired an aggressive and haughty attitude towards the " unproductive " classes, provoking reciprocal hatred and stringent opposition from the latter. The capi- talists were naturally not loth to remove the " Day of Judg- ment " to as remote a future as they possibly could, and they saw to it that the new industrial organization, the " New Moral World ", should not '' come suddenly upon society like a thief in the night ". In fact, their watch was so alert that the strongest trades unions came to grief as soon as they attempted to realize their humblest plans. The aggressive policy of the laborers encountered a still more determined opposition not only on the part of the employers but also of the government. In this case the latter enjoyed the fruit of the wisdom of Nassau Senior, who, as commis- sioner appointed to inquire into the state of combinations and strikes, recorded his conviction, which was based exclu- sively on statements and hearsay gossip of employers, that " the general evils and general dangers of combinations cannot easily be exaggerated ", that " if a few agitators can command and enforce a strike which first paralyzes the in- dustry of the peculiar class of workpeople over whom they tyrannize, and then extends itself in an increasing circle over the many thousands and tens of thousands to whose labor the assistance of that peculiar class of workpeople is essential . . . that if this state of things is to continue, we shall not retain the industry, the skill, or the capital, on which our manufacturing superiority, and, with that super- iority, our power and almost our existence as a nation, de- pends ".' ^ Nassau W. Senior, Historical and Philosophical Essays, London, 1865, vol. ii, p. 171. 8o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [go The employers stopped short of nothing until they had succeeded in defeating and crushing the labor organizations. Even the most popular Grand Natiotial Consolidated Trades Union which was started, through the agitation of Robert Owen, in 1834, and which enrolled within a few weeks at least half a million members, men and women of various trades, was exterminated by the combination of employers who resorted to lock-outs in order to force the laborers to abandon the union. The conviction of many strikers and the barbarous sentences brought against them by the courts were enough to chill the most ardent followers of the new order. ^ Notice was served that a bill would be introduced to make combinations of trades impossible. Many a trades unionist began to suspect that the new moral world could not be ushered in without a hard struggle in the teeth of a hostile government, subservient commissioners and corrupt courts. Conspiracies, intimidation and violence on the part of workingmen began to show signs of something more dangerous than the talk of some future Day of Judgment. The capitalists, however, blinded by their easy victories, were unable to read the handwriting on the wall. Union after union was disbanded and crushed by the newly-formed Chamber of Commerce, thus driving multitudes of people into the very pit of revolution. " Back to politics !" became the slogan of the bulk of laborers. Politics again became the emblem of something which could give everything and deprive of everything: Parliament began to be regarded with awe as a new Almighty in whose word lay life and death. And it was quite natural. The workingmen lost their battle on the industrial field, and they lost it because the machinery of government was turned against them. The important point of stratagem appeared to lie in the ' See George Loveless, The Victims of Whiggery, London, 1837. Si] labor legislation and trade unionism 8 1 capture of that machinery and its use against the capitahsts. The New Poor Law, the hostihty and treachery of the gov- ernment and the crushing defeat of labor organizations brought, to use Cobbett's words on an eariier occasion, the issue of the working class " to be a question of actual star- vation or fighting for food; and when it comes to that point, I know that Englishmen will never lie down and die by hundreds by the wayside." ^ The apotheosis of political power brought again the issue of universal suffrage to the foreground. The foremost radical writers renewed their fight for " freedom ". Bron- terre started his National Reformer on the 7th of January, 1837, w^ith the declaration that the " money monster " must be fought with his own weapons : Government, Lazv, Property, Religion, and Morals, these five words embrace everything that affects our happiness as social beings, and consequently all that a reformer can have to deal with. I place Government at the head, because upon that do all the rest really depend. It is the Government that makes the law. The lazv determines the property — and on the state of property depend the religion and morals, and (as a consequence) the xvell-heing and happiness of every people in the world. . . . The parent cause (of the wretched condi- tion of the people) being bad government, Ave must necessarily begin with that — and if the government be bad, because, as I contend, it is wrongly constituted, our first attempt must he to have it constituted rightly. Here, then. I am at once con- ducted to my old ground, universal suffrage. A government which does not represent the interests of all who are called upon to obey its laws, is necessarily a wrongly constituted government. In his article on " Social Occupations " in the same issue ^ See the Political Register, October 20, 181 5. 82 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [82 he dwells at sc/ine length on the same question and upbraids the masses for their want of sufficient interest in universal suffrage. Says he : I know but one way of salvation for us — but one way of felling the monster without being buried underneath his ruins ; it is to smite him with the authority of the law, having first got the law on the people's side. It is only by having first got the law on fiis side, that he has been able to prostrate us. Why should not we be able to do the same by him when we have got the law on ours? , . . What right has he to exclude you more than you to exclude him? ... I am, therefore, obliged, — reluctantly, but unavoidably obliged — to conclude that your exclusion is the work of your own ignorant and craven sub- mission. You have made no bold efforts as a body — no grand demonstrations to obtain the franchise ; you have occasionally petitioned, it is true, but your petitions were " few and far between ", they were also weak and desultory, seldom bold and commanding — never simultaneous and absorbing. You talked in them about your paying taxes, and being liable to serve in the militia, and all that sort of unconsequential rub- bish, but you never put forward your claims resolutely, as men who had an equal, and even a superior stake in the question, to that of your oppressors — namely, your very lives, which are hourly threatened with destruction by the murderous money- monster. Much less did you meet simultaneously, and in millions, to demonstrate the absorbing interest you took in the question. On the contrary, you were satisfied, even in your best days, to abandon your case to the care of a few dema- gogues, who, however honest and brave, could do nothing for you without some grand national movement on your own part. The reproach of Bronterre came at a time when the seeds of discontent had already begun to sprout to the surface. The " grand national movement " was on its way. It was but a short time after those lines had been penned that from g3] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 83 the ruins of trade unionism arose a magnificent tower which, for over a decade, allured the misery-stricken lowly, and illumined the way for millions of devoted and heroic men and women. The name of that tower was Chartism. CHAPTER VI Knaves will tell you that it is be- cause you have no property you are unrepresented. I tell you, on the con- trary, it is because you are unrepre- sented that you have no property. — Bronterre. The People's Charter The London Working Men's Association was organized on the i6th of June, 1836, under the leadership of men who for a number of years had been associated with various phases of the labor movement. Henry Hetherington and John Cleave, the champions of a free unstamped press. Wil- liam Lovett, Henry Vincent, George Julian Harney and other prominent members of trade unions, little thought then that the movement which they inaugurated was destined to play such a revolutionary role in the life of the English working class. Humble, indeed, were the objects which the association set for itself to achieve. Liberalism, Radi- calism, Trade Unionism, Socialism, Owenism and Rotund- ism, were reduced to the following lowest common denomin- ators : ^ 1. To draw into one bond of unity the intelligent and in- fluential portion of the working classes in town and country. 2. To seek by every legal means to place all classes of society in possession of their equal political and social rights. 3. TfO devise every possible means, and to use every exertion, to remove those cruel laws that prevent the free circulation of thought through the medium of a cheap and honest press. 1 See Address and Rules of the Working Men's Association, for Benefiting Socially and Morally the Useful Classes, London, 1836. 84 [84 8^] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER 85 4. To promote, by all available means, the education of the rising generation, and the extirpation of those systems which tend to future slavery. 5. To collect every kind of information appertaining to the interests of the working classes in particular and society in general, especially statistics regarding the wages of labor, the habits and condition of the laborer, and all those that mainly contribute to the present state of things. 6. To meet and communicate with each other for the pur- pose of digesting the information required, and to mature such plans as they believe will conduce in practice to the well- being of the working classes. 7. To publish their views and sentiments in such form and manner as shall best serve to create a moral, reflecting, yet energetic public opinion ; so as eventually to lead to a gradual improvement in the condition of the working classes, without violence or commotion. 8. To form a library of reference and useful information ; to maintain a place where they can associate for mental improve- ment, and where their brethren from the country can meet with kindred minds actuated by one great motive — that of bene- fiting politically, socially, and morally, the useful classes. In this address, calling upon the working class to form similar societies, the association cautions " strictly to adhere to a judicious selection of their members." The working- men are exhorted to make " the principles of democracy as respectable in practice as they are just in theory, by exclud- ing the drunken and immoral from our ranks and uniting in close compact with the honest, sober, moral and thinking portion of our brethren." The rules of the association made only workingmen eligible for membership. The card issued by the associa- tion to its members contained the following maxim : " The man who evades his share of useful labor diminishes the public stock of wealth and throws his own burden upon 86 THE CHARTIST MOrEMENT [86 his neighbor." Persons not of the " industrious classes " were admitted only as honorary members and could par- ticipate in the debates and discussions and attend all meet- ings, but were debarred from holding any office or from taking any part in the management of the organization. The exclusiveness of the association was the direct re- sult of former experiences with radical representatives of the middle class. Lovett tells only half of the story when he attributes the fixed rule of exclusiveness to a desire " to try an experiment," in order to evince the discrimina- tion and independent spirit in the management of their poli- tical affairs, in which the workingmen were found wanting. " The masses and their political organizations were taught to look up to great vien (or to men professing greatness) rather than to great principles. We wished, therefore, to es- tablish a political school of self-instruction among them, in which they should accustom themselves to examine great social and political principles." ^ The address published by the association, however, be- trays the real cause : It has been said by some that our objects are exclusive, seeing we wish to confine our association to workingmen. We reply, that judging from experience and appearance, the political and social regeneration of the working classes must be begun by themselves, and, therefore, they should not admit any pre- ponderating influence of wealth or title to swerve them from their duty. . . . Let not, however, the men of wealth imagine that we have any ulterior designs inimical to their rights, or views opposed to the peace and harmony of society. On the contrary, we seek to render property more secure ; life more sacred ; and to preserve inviolate every institution that can be made to contribute to the happiness of man. We only seek 1 William Lovett, Life and Struggles, pp. 91-92. Sy] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER 87 that share in the institutions and government of our country which our industry and usefulness justly merit. The address was signed by Henry Hetherington, treas- urer, and William Lovett, secretary, but was apparently com- posed by men of various creeds. It expressed no clear-cut principle; it held forth no fixed ideal. While it consoled the men of wealth with the assertion that the association had no ulterior or sinister designs, that it did not intend " to get a transfer of wealth, power or influence for a party," it also vowed to probe social evils to their source and " to apply effective remedies to prevent instead of unjust laws to pun- ish." The source of social evils, not clearly visible in this declaration, was revealed, however, in a subsequent address of the association to the working classes of Belgium, issued in November, 1836. Starting with the interesting assertion that "the cause of those foolish dissentions between nations lies in the ignorance " of the workingmen of their position in society, the address continues : Ignorance has caused us to believe that lue were " born to toil," and others to enjoy — that we were naturally inferior, and should silently bow to the government of those who were pleased to call themselves superior; and consequently those who have governed us have done so for their own advantage, and not ours. . . . Their laws have been enacted to perpetu- ate their power, and administered to generate fear and sub- mission towards self-constituted greatness, hereditary ignor- ance, or wealth, however unjustly acquired. . . . Our eman- cipation, however, will depend on the extent of this knowl- edge among the working classes of all countries, or its salutary effects in causing us to perceive our real position in society — in causing us to feel that we, being the producers of wealth, have the first claim to its enjoyment.^ 1 William Lovett, op. cit., p. 98. 88 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [88 The association recognized the importance of political power from the beginning and set forth its views in a three- penny pamphlet — The Rotten House of Commons.^ The pamphlet contained statistical information on the composi- tion of Parliament. The tables were compiled from Parlia- mentary returns and from the elaborate works of reputable statisticians. They showed that tH of the entire popu- lation, or :f^ of the adult males above the age of twenty- one, had the power of passing all the laws in the House of Commons, which would be binding upon all inhabitants of England. The proportion of registered electors who had the vote to the number of males above twenty-one years of age in the United Kingdom was about i to yYz. The com- position of the reformed House of Commons was shown to consist exclusively of members of the nobility, of the army and navy, the barristers and solicitors and of the moneyed classes. The people of England were invited to reflect on the question whether the working classes had fit representatives in the great number of land-holders, money-makers, specu- lators, usurers, lords, earls, and other honorables, as well as in the number of military and navy representatives, barris- ters, solicitors, etc. Are the manufacturer and capitalist, whose exclusive monopoly of the combined powers of wood, iron, and steam, enables them to cause the destitution of thousands, and who have an interest in forcing labor down to the minimum reward, fit to represent the interests of working men? Is the master, whose interest it is to purchase labor at the cheapest rate, a fit representative for the workman, whose interest it is to get the most he can for his labor? ' The Rotten House of Commons, being an Exposition of the Present State of the Franchise, and an Appeal to the Nation of the Course to be Pursued in the Approaching Crisis, Hetherington, Strand. gg] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER 89 The association urged the laborers to refuse to be the tools of any party who will not, as a first and essential measure, give to the working classes equal political and social rights, so that they may send their own representa- tives, from the ranks of those who live by labor, to deliberate and determine along with all other interests, that the interests of the laboring classes — of those who are the foundation of the social edifice — shall not be daily sacrificed to glut the extravagance of the pampered few. If you feel with us, then you will proclaim it in the workshop, preach it in your societies, publish it from town to village, from county to county, and from nation to nation, that there is no hope for the sons of toil, till those who feel with them, who sympathise with them, and whose interests are identified with theirs, have an equal right to determine what laws shall be enacted or plans adopted for justly governing this country. The association had Hetherington's weekly " Twopenny Despatch " at its disposal. It was not satisfied, however, with printed propaganda alone. Immediately upon its for- mation, Hetherington, Vincent and Cleave were engaged to make an agitation tour all over the country. They depicted the wrongs of the toiling classes and fanned the passions of the people into a flame. Within a very short time they were successful in organizing a great number of workingmen's associations. Encouraged by the general response of the masses, the association published a petition for a new Par- liamentary Constitution. The petition contained the essence of the pamphlet — The Rotten House of Commons, and was commented upon by the radical writers as one of the most important documents. Bronterre reprinted it in his Na- tional Reformer of February 11, 1837, with the following editorial remarks " to the unrepresented millions " : I have seen few documents that comprise so many important 90 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [go facts within an equal space ; I have not seen any which reflects the mind of indignant industry with brighter effect; or which, as a clear and powerful exposition of the wrongs inflicted on you, and of the rights withheld, is better calculated to chal- lenge regard and sympathy in your behalf. The petition was drawn up by William Lovett and con- tained the nucleus of the subsequently famous People's Charter/ The House of Commons was requested to enact a law with the following " six points " : (i) Equal Representation. (2) Universal Suffrage. (3) Annual Parliaments. (4) No Property Qualifications. (5) Vote by Ballot. (6) Payments to Members. On the 28 of February, 1837, a great public meeting was held in London, at the Crown and Anchor, under the aus- pices of the London Working Men's Association, at which, after the petition was approved and signed by about three thousand persons, a unanimous resolution was carried to present it to Parliament. Having no representatives of their own, the association entrusted the petition to J. A. Roebuck, who was at that time considered the most staunch advocate of democratic principles in the House of Commons. On his advice, the association issued a circular to all radical members of Parliament to meet at the British Coffee-house, in Cockspur Street, on the 3rd of May, 1837, and at this meeting, which was attended by several members of the House, including Daniel O'Connell, Joseph Hume, Colonel T. P. Thompson, ^V. S. Crawford, J. T. Leader and others, Lovett introduced the subject on the part of the association. 1 See Appendix A. gi] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER qi The discussions which lasted for two evenings resulted in the unanimous adoption of four important resolutions. In the first, the members of Parliament agreed to support Representative Roebuck in his proposition for universal suffrage. In the second, they pledged themselves to sup- port and vote for any bill embodying " the principles of universal suffrage, equal representation, free selection of representatives without reference to property, the ballot, and short parliaments of fixed duration, the limit not to exceed three years." The third resolution bound them to support and vote for a bill for such reform of the House of Lords as shall render it responsible to the people. The fourth resolution provided that a committee of twelve be appointed to draw up a bill in a legal form embodying the above prin- ciples and to submit it to another joint meeting. These resolutions were signed by Daniel O'Connell, Charles Hind- ley, W. S. Crawford, J. T. Leader, John Fielden, T. Wakley, D. W. Harvey, T. P. Thompson, J. A. Roebuck, and Dr. Bowring. The committee appointed to draw up the bill consisted of O'Connell, Roebuck, Leader, Hindley, Colonel Thompson, Crawford, Lovett, Hetherington, Vin- cent. Cleave, J. Watson, and R. Moore. — the last six being members of the association. The death of William IV led to the prorogation of Par- liament. On this occasion, the association issued an ad- dress to reformers on the forthcoming elections, urging that only those candidates should be returned, who would pledge themselves to universal suffrage and " all the other essen- tials of self-government." It was in this address that the association for the first time referred to the " six points " as the People's Charter. The address w^as circulated among all workingmen's as- sociations and political unions. It was at this juncture that the famous Birmingham Political Union which had kept 92 TJ^E CHARTIST MOVEMENT [92 aloof from the new political agitation declared itself in favor of the petition. The Birmingham laborers were considered the aristocracy of the working class ; the political union en- joyed the reputation of having been greatly responsible for the successful issue of the campaign for the Reform Bill of 1832. The entrance of the Birmingham union into a new campaign for universal suffrage was, therefore, hailed by the workingmen's associations as a singular victory for their cause. Their satisfaction was particularly enhanced after the publication by the union of an address, in which it confessed its disappointment with the Whigs and attri- buted the distress of the people to the discredited Reform Bill: The motive and end of all legislation is the happiness of the universal people. Let us try the Reform Bill by that test. . . . What do we find? Merchants bankrupt, workmen un- employed and starving, workhouses crowded, factories de- serted, distress and dissatisfaction everywhere prevalent. . . . Were the people fully and fairly represented in Parliament, would such things be? After the accession of Queen Victoria, the London Working Men's Association in conjunction with other or- ganizations prepared an address to Her Majesty. An ex- change of correspondence took place between Lovett and Lord John Russell, then Secretary^ of State for the Home Department. Lovett requested that a deputation of six per- sons be presented personally to the Queen. Russell replied that the deputation would have to wait until Her Majesty held a levee, and that they must attend in court dress. Lovett's retort was that they had " neither the means nor the inclination to indulge in such absurdities as dress coats and wigs ", and he expressed the hope that the day was not distant, when some better means would be devised " for C)3] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER 93 letting the sovereign hear of the addresses and petitions of the people." The address to the Queen, as well as the cor- respondence between Lovett and Russell, caused much com- ment in the press. In the address the Queen was asked to cause a bill to be introduced for the extension of the right of suffrage to all the adult population of the kingdom. The address was couched in courteous but resolute terms, point- ing to the " many monstrous anomaHes springing out of the constitution of society, the corruptions of government and the defective education of mankind " as the cause of the abnormal condition that the bulk of the nation were toiling slaves from birth till death, that the middle classes were racked with the curse of business distrust, few being spared from bankruptcy, and that but a trifling portion of the suc- cessful few could be found " free from the disease of sloth and cares of idleness and debauchery." The exclusive few — it was set out — used all their means tO' retain within their own circle all the legislative and executive powers in order to protect themselves against the wrath of the suffering- multitudes and to perpetuate " their own despotic sway." The economic suffering of the masses is directly attri- buted to the want of suffrage: To this baneful source of exclusive political power may be traced the persecution of fanaticism, the feuds of superstition, and most of the wars and carnage which disgrace our history. To this pernicious origin may justly be attributed the unre- mitted toil and wretchedness of your Majesty's industrious people, together with most of the vices and crimes springing from poverty and ignorance, which in a country blessed by nature, enriched by art, and boasting of her progress and knowledge, mock her humanity and degrade her character. . . . These exclusive interests, under the names of Whig and Tory, have for many years past succeeded in making Royalty a mere puppet of their will. In that name they l^ave plun- 94 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [94 dered at home and desolated abroad. . . . But the superstitious days of arbitrary dominion and holy errors are fast falling away; the chief magistrate of an enhghtened people must learn to know and respect its delegated authority — and must look for power and fame to the welfare of the people. . . . We trust that your Majesty will not permit either of the factions who live on abuses, and profit at the expense of the millions, to persuade you to any course of policy other than that of right and justice. ... It is not just, that out of a population of twenty-five millions of people, only eight hundred thousand should have the power of electing what is called the Commons' House of Parliament. The naive faith of the association in political reform as a panacea for all evil can be seen from the address, which was sent in 1837 to the American " brethren ", extolling the political liberty and institutions enjoyed by the workingmen in the United States, and at the same time conveying deep surprise at the fact that they had not progressed any further after sixty years of freedom: ^ Why are you, to so great an extent, ruled by men who speculate on your credulity and thrive by your prejudices? Why have lawyers a preponderating influence in your coun- try? . . . Why has so much of your fertile country been par- celled out between swindling bankers and grinding capitalists who seek to establish (as in our own country) a monopoly in that land which nature bestowed in common to all her children ? Why have so many of your cities, towns, railroads, canals, and manufactories, become the monopolized property of those " who toil not, neither do they spin '" ? — while you. who raised them by your labors, are still in the position of begging leave to erect others, and to establish for them similar monopolies? In the general election of 1837, the most outspoken Liber- 1 Lovett, op. cit., pp. 130, 131. C)5] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER 95 als, S. Crawford, Colonel Thompson and Roebuck, were defeated by the united opposition of the Whigs and Tories. Far from being discouraged, the London Working Men's Association called a meeting of the Committee of Twelve which had been appointed to prepare the bill. The com- mittee then authorized Roebuck and Lovett to draft the document. With the exception of the preamble which was written by Roebuck, the bill was prepared by Lovett, after having consulted Francis Place as to its form and legal technicalities. The original draft contained a provision for the suffrage of women. This was discarded as it was feared that such demand might retard the suffrage of men. After some other changes were made, Lovett's Bill was finally approved by the Committee of Twelve and then by the London Working Men's Association. This hill ivas desig- nated the " People's Charter ".^ Daniel O'Connell, who be- fore long deserted the ranks of the Chartists, virulent in his opposition till the day of his death, is credited with exclaim- ing, while handing the bill to Lovett, " There, Lovett, is your Charter; agitate for it, and never be content with anything else." The People's Charter was published on the 8th of May, 1838, and was sent broadcast together with an address, which was signed by Henry Hetherington, Treasurer, and William Lovett, Secretary, and which contained a popular exposition of the principles of the Charter and the plan for obtaining it: Having frequently stated the reasons for zealously espous- ing the great principles of reform, we have now endeavored to set them forth. We need not reiterate the facts and un- refuted arguments which have so often been stated and urged in their support. Suffice it to say, that we hold it to he an 1 See Appendix B. ^6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [96 axiom in politics, that self-government, by representation, is the only just foundation of political power — the only true basis of constitutional rights — the only legitimate parent of good laws ; — and we hold it as an indubitable truth that all government wdiich is based on any other foundation, has a perpetual tendency to degenerate into anarchy or despotism; or to beget class and wealth idolatry on the one hand, or poverty and misery on the other. While, however, we contend for the principle of self-gov- ernment, we admit that laws will only be just in proportion as the people are enlightened; on this, socially and politically, the happiness of all must depend ; but, as self-interest, unaccom- panied by virtue, ever seeks its own exclusive benefit, so will the exclusive and privileged classes of society ever seek to perpetuate their power and to proscribe the enlightenment of the people. Hence we are induced to believe that the enlight- enment of all will sooner emanate from the exercise of politi- cal power by all the people, than by their continuing to trust to the selfish government of the few. A strong conviction of these truths, coupled as that con- viction is with the belief that most of our political and social evils can be traced to corrupt and exclusive legislation, and that the remedy will be found in extending to the people at large the exercise of those rights now monopolized by a few, has induced us to make some exertions towards embodying our principles in the Charter. We are the more inclined to take some practicable step in favor of reform, from the frequent disappointments the cause has experienced. We have heard eloquent effusions in favor of political equality from the hustings, and the senate- house, suddenly change into prudent reasonings on property and privileges, at the winning smile of the minister. We have seen depicted in glowing language bright patriotic promises of the future, which have left impressions on us more lasting than the perfidy or apostacy of the writers. . . . The object we contemplate in the drawing up of this bill is to cause the Radicals of the kingdom to form, if possible, a gy] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER gy concentration of their principles in a practical form, upon which they could be brought to unite, and to which they might point, as a Charter they are determined to obtain. We intend that copies of it shall be forwarded to all the Working Men's Associations and to all Reform Associations in the kingdom to which we can have access, and we hereby call upon them, in the spirit of brotherhood, to examine, sug- gest, and improve upon it, until it is so perfected as to meet, as far as possible, with general approbation. When it is so far improved, and has received their sanction, we intend that it shall be presented to Parliament, and we trust that petitions will not be wanting to show how far we are united in demand- ing its enactment. We hope, also, that electors and non- electors will continue to make it the pledge of their candidates ; will seek to extend its circulation ; talk over its principles ; and resolve that, as public opinion forced the Whig Reform Bill, so in like manner shall this bill eventually become the law of England The publication of the People's Charter gave a fresh im- petus to the enthusiasm of the universal suffragists. The best talents of the Working Men's Associations and other radical societies joined in a gigantic effort to obtain the im- mediate enactment of the Charter. The vague and ambigu- ous phraseology of the London Working Men's Association gave place to a determined expression of class consciousness. The general press cautioned against the Chartist missionaries who were branded as scoundrels, firebrands, plunderers, knaves, and assassins. The people, however, paid little heed to these warnings and eagerly demonstrated their " general approbation " of the Charter in a series of grand meetings and parades. CHAPTER VII The Leaders The years 1838 and 1839 were the most auspicious for the Chartist Movement. Instigated by the acute eco- nomic distress, the people were in the mood to follow almost anybody who could stimulate their indignation to activity. The leaders seemed to have realized this and vied with each other in their endeavors to gain the confidence of the work- ing class. The response of the people, however, was too spontaneous, almost volcanic, to allow the establishment of any efficient and responsible organization. As in every mass movement, many a leader was swept off his feet in the whirl- wind of universal protest against the existing regime. In- stead of leading, they were made to follow, and, at best, to agitate. This for a time saved the ranks of the Chartists from complete disruption, although it was an open secret that there were " two parties in the Chartist ranks," and, what is more, that they had " different objects in view," that these two parties were " decidedly hostile to each other," and that no union could ever take place between the " honest or determined Chartists and the weak, vacillat- ing and scheming Chartists." ^ The most essential difference, which was of prime import- ance for the evolutionary period of the movement, lay in the mode of agitation. The People's Charter emanated, as we have seen, from the London Working Men's Association, ' The London Democrat, April 20, 1839. 98 [98 99] THE LEADERS gg whose leaders designed a policy of moral force, of education. In its first address, the association marked its future task in the following terms: Who can foretell the great political and social advantages that must accrue from the wide extension of societies of this description acting up to their principles? Imagine the honest, sober and reflecting portion of every town and village in the kingdom linked together as a band of brothers, honestly re- solved to investigate all subjects connected with their interests, and to prepare their minds to combat with the errors and enemies of society — setting an example of propriety to their neighbors, and enjoying even in poverty a happy home. And in proportion as home is made pleasant, by a cheerful and intelligent partner, by dutiful children, and by means of com- fort, which their knowledge has enabled them to snatch from the ale-house, so are the bitters of life sweetened with hap- piness. Think you a corrupt Government could perpetuate its ex- clusive and demoralizing influence amid a people thus united and instructed? Could a vicious aristocracy find its servile slaves to render homage to idleness and idolatry to the wealth too often fraudulently exacted from industry? Could the present gambling influence of money perpetuate the slavery of the millions, for the gains or dissipation of the few? Could corruption sit in the judgment seat — empty-headed import- ance in the senate — money-getting hypocrisy in the pulpit — and debauchery, fanaticism, poverty, and crime stalk tri- umphantly through the land — if the millions were educated in a knowledge of their rights ? No. no, friends ; and hence the efforts of the exclusive few to keep the people ignorant and divided. Be ours the task, then, to unite and instruct them; for be assured the good that is to be must be begun by our- selves. At the beginning the agitation was preeminently peaceful. The London Working Men's Association introduced a sys- 100 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [loo tern of national and international addresses as a means for enlightening the people on all social and political events of importance. The addresses were well received by the better elements of the working class, but failed to exert so great an effect on the masses who felt impatient with the " moral, vacillating, scheming humbugs," and preferred " to take their affairs in their own hands." It was no surprise, there- fore, that the advocates of physical force and insurrection, welcomed by the people from the very outset, soon gained the upper hand in the movement. Indeed, rampant dis- satisfaction was displayed on more than one occasion, and some of the leaders went even so far as to withdraw their active support. The fatal blight of discord was, however, overcome during the first period. The masses were im- bued with the hope that the People's Charter would bring about complete salvation. The Charter contained, indeed, only political reforms, but the people knew from the lead- ers that such reforms were the only instrument for the ex- termination of all evils. The Chartist speakers, as well as the Chartist writers, all agreed that the curse of the country lay in " class legislation " : It has corrupted the whole government — poisoned the press, demoralized society, prostituted the Church, dissipated the re- sources of the nation, created monopolies, paralyzed trade, ruined half its merchants, produced almost national bank- ruptcy, depressed the whole working classes, and pauperized most of them. Consequently, the sooner we get rid of such a monstrous system, it will be so much the better for all, ex- cept for those who either live, or expect to live, by plunder.^ The masses believed, they were eager to believe in every- thing which held out the promise of relief. They took up 1 The Chartist Circular, April i8, 1840. lOi] THE LEADERS lOl the rallying cry, " The Charter, the whole Charter, and nothing but the Charter," with a zeal characteristic of the common people. This reacted on the leaders and forced their personal and theoretical differences to the background. The differences were by no means given up. The leaders merely buried their hatchets for a while, with the under- standing that they would be picked up again at the oppor- tune time after the Charter should have become an accom- plished fact. Until then they were willing to let their eco- nomic and social creeds take care of themselves. This was made clear by Bronterre even as early as 1837. In discuss- ing his pet theory of nationalization of land, he cut himself short : Better, far better it were to sink such questions for the present. When all shall have votes, it will be in the power of each to make known his sentiments respecting the land, as well as respecting everything else, and should a majority think with him, his sentiments will become law without cavil or con- straint. Till then, our theories, however just, are useless.^ The good intentions of the leaders were not realized. There were too many points of friction in their mental con- stitution as well as in their temperamental make-up. At the time of popular excitement, all were carried away by the torrent of general indignation, few stopping to soothe their personal feelings. It was only after the movement had met the strenuous opposition on the part of the govern- ment and had become paralyzed, that demoralization set in, disrupting the Chartist army into a number of hostile squads. The small coterie of leaders, who during the first period stamped their personalities on the movement and directed the destinies of millions of people, included men of excep- ^ The Ncrtional Reformer, Feb. 25, 1837. I02 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [102 tional character and mentality, who gave themselves like martyrs to the cause. William Lovett, the author of the People's Charter and " the gentlest of agitators," was, according to the descrip- tion of Francis Place, a tall, thin and rather melancholy man, " soured with the perplexities of the world," but " hon- est-hearted, possessed of great courage and persevering in his conduct." He was born on the 8th of May, 1800, in a little fishing town in the county of Cornwall. His father, a captain of a small trading vessel, was drowned before William was born. As a boy Lovett received some school- ing in a rather suffocating religious atmosphere. My poor mother, [he writes of his boyhood], like too many serious persons of the present day, thought that the great power that has formed the numerous gay, sportive, singing things of earth and air, must above all things be gratified with the solemn faces, prim clothes, and half sleepy demeanor of human beings ; and that true religion consists in listening to the reiterated story of man's fall, of God's anger for his doing so, of man's sinful nature, of the redemption, and of other questionable matters, instead of the wonders and glories of the universe.^ In his early youth, he was apprenticed to a rope-maker for a term of seven years. His master, however, soon gave up his indentures, and Lovett turned to- fishing and other trades. On the 23rd of June 1821. he went to London where, after some struggles and adventures, he became a cabinet-maker. In 1828, he joined the " First London Cooperative Trading Association " and soon afterwards accepted the position of store-keeper in this asso- ciation. He was also a prominent member of the " Brit- ish Association for Promoting Cooperative Knowledge." * William Lovett, Life and Struggles, pp. 7-8. 103] THE LEADERS IO3 At that time he believed that the gradual accumulation of capital, by means of cooperative trading associations, might ultimately enable the working classes to get the industries and commerce of the country in their own hands. He also accepted Robert Owen's doctrine of community of property: The idea of all the powers of machinery, of all the arts and inventions of men, being applied for the benefit of all in com- mon, to the lightening of their toil and the increase of their comforts, is one the most captivating to those who accept the idea without investigation. The prospect of having spacious halls, gardens, libraries, and museums, at their command; of having light alternate labor in field or factory ; of seeing their children educated, provided and cared for at the public ex- pense; of having no fear or care of poverty themselves; nor for wife, children, or friends they might leave behind them ; is one the most cheering and consolatory to an enthusiastic mind. I was one who accepted this grand idea of machinery working for the benefit of all.^ •In 1830, he was active in the formation of the " Metropoli- tan Political Union," whose object was " to obtain by every just, legal, constitutional and peaceful means an effectual and radical reform in the Commons' House of Parliament." He was also connected with the "unstamped" agitation which originated the cheap political newspapers and pamphlets. In 1 83 1, he refused to serve in the militia, as he explained it, " on the ground of not being represented in Parliament and of not having any voice or vote in the election of those persons who made those laws that compelled me to take up arms to protect the rights and property of others, while my ozvn rights and the only property I had, my labor, were not protected." " The same year, he joined "The National 1 Lovett, op. cit., pp. 43-44- ' Ibid., p. 66. 104 ^^^ CHARTIST MOVEMENT [104 Union of the Working Classes and Others," which declared labor the " source of wealth " and aimed at " the protection of the working men ; the free disposal of the produce of labor; and effectual reform of the Commons' House of Parliament; the repeal of all bad laws; the enactment of a wise and comprehensive code of laws; and to collect and organize a peaceful expression of public opinion." This association, also known as the Rotundists, was denounced by the Tory and Whig press as consisting of " destructives, revolutionists, pickpockets, and incendiaries ; meditating an attack upon every possessor of property, and the uprooting of all law and order." The rapid success of the Trades Unions in 1834, and especially of the Consolidated National Trades Union, led tO' the dissolution of the National Union of the Working Classes. After the trade union movement was crushed by the manufacturers and the government, Lovett, who enjoyed an enviable reputation among the London reformers, succeeded, together with a number of other radicals, in the effort to organize the London Working Men's Association. He had at that time re- nounced some of his ultra- radical ideas and adopted the policy of Francis Place, the wire-puller. He was an able organizer and, as its secretary, soon became the heart and soul of the association. As the author of the People's Charter, Lovett undoubt- edly exerted an influence on the movement. At no stage, however, was he regarded as a popular leader. For that he lacked both intellect and pliability. He was an idealist, ready to incur peril and obloquy for his principles, but his mentality was of a static nature. In all his Chartist career he never swerved from the path which the London Work- ing Men's Association had laid out in 1836. Utterly in- capable of being swayed by sentiment or emotion, he lacked completely the instinct and the foresight of a born leader. lO^] THE LEADERS I05 Honest he was, indeed, and courageous, but it was the honesty and courage of a fanatic. He scrupled to yield to the popular clamor for physical force, but his scruples did not spring from the source of moral opulence. Obscured by men of greater power of leadership, he was ever full of suspicion and when forced to make some compromise, he begrudged it all his life. " His fault was," testifies one of his admirers, " that he had too much suspicion of the motives of others not taking his view of things." ^ He was gentle and not spiteful, but he never bowed to anybody, nor allowed himself to be treated as a common mortal. His errors he attributed to the goodness of his heart and never to the weakness of his mind. Such was the make-up of the man who was considered by most writers the noblest ex- ponent of the Chartist movement. Feargus O'Connor was a man of a diametrically opposite calibre. Loved and worshipped by millions, hated by many, but despised by none, he was a man who could fairly say of himself : " It is my boast that neither the living denouncer nor the unborn historian can ever write of Chartism, leaving out the name of Feargus O'Connor." ^ He was born July 16,1794, and was the son of Roger O'Connor, who suffered imprisonment for his activity in the movement of the " United Irishmen." He was always proud of his descent which he traced to Roderick O'Connor, the last king of Ireland. He attended grammar-school and Trinity College at Dublin, but took no degree. He was called to the Irish Bar, but lived with his brothers on their father's estate, and was, as he says, "on the turf in a small way." He appeared on the 1 George Jacob Holyoake, Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life, London, 1900, vol. ii, p. 269. 2 The Laborer, 1847, vol. i, p. 176. I06 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [io6 political scene at the age of thirty-seven. A barrister by education, an orator of the first rank, and a man of athletic physical strength, he was a great prize for O'Connell's party in Ireland. He was elected to Parliament in 1833 for the County of Cork. While in Parliament, he repudiated the unscrupulous policy of his chief, Daniel O'Connell, who, on his part, could not brook anyone who was potentially fit to share his power or popularity. O'Con- nell frequently yielded to the Whigs with a view of secur- ing a chance for his party. O'Connor denounced such tac- tics and frequently went out of his way to frustrate the plans of the Irish leader. He was re-elected in 1835, but was unseated owing to his want of the necessary property qualification. It was at that time that an open quarrel took place between him and O'Connell, who made " a present of him to the English radicals." The latter received him with open arms. Coming as he did from a family of famous Irish patriots, his name alone would have given great prestige to any radical group. But O'Connor possessed, in addition, a rich stock of personal qualifications for leader- ship. A giant of over six feet in height, with features which revealed great intellectual vigor, of aristocratic man- ner and deportment, his whole countenance was such as to strike awe into the masses. He was a man of unbounded energy and, after he was unseated in 1835, he selected the manufacturing districts for his agitation against the New- Poor Law and the Factory System. On his tour he founded many political unions which ultimately associated themselves with the Chartists. It was on account of that tour that Francis Place characterized him as the trcevcling leader of the Democratic Movement. In 1836 he founded the Central Committee of radical unions. In 1837 he was wrought up by the invitation which the London Working- Men's Association had extended to Daniel O'Connell as one lo;] THE LEADERS 107 of the radical Parliamentary members/ and he denounced the association for its alleged readiness to leave the interests of the workingmen in the hands of the middle class. On November 18, 1837, he founded the most radical Chartist weekly, the Northern Star, whose circulation soon reached sixty thousand. This unusual circulation testifies to the great popularity which O'Connor enjoyed among the masses. He was literally worshipped by his followers and many " would have gone through fire and water for him." There was much that was attractive in him when I first knew him [writes one of the Chartists]. His fine manly form and his powerful baritone voice gave him great advantage as a popular leader. His conversation was rich in Irish humor, and often evinced a shrewd knowledge of character. The fact of his having been in the House of Commons, and among the upper classes, also lent him influence. I do not think half a dozen Chartists cared a fig about his boasted descent from " Roderick O'Connor, the king of Connaught, and last king of all Ireland " ; but the connection of his family with the United Irishmen and patriotic sufferers of the last century, rendered him a natural representative of the cause of political liberty.- In his career as a Chartist, O'Connor displayed qualities which, in the eyes of many contemporaries and historians, branded him as a demagogue, a despot, a political denouncer, a man who was looking solely for self-aggrandizement and for personal interests. Lovett, who could hardly tolerate the presence of O'Connor, once said to him, " You are the great ' I am ' of politics." Bronterre nicknamed him " the dictator " ; Roebuck called him " a cowardly and malignant demagogue," "a rogue and a liar"; Place said 1 Cf. supra, p. 90. 1 The Life of Thomas Cooper, written by himself, London, 1897, p. 179. Io8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [io8 of him that he would use every means he could to lead and mislead the working people. Historians, too, characterize him as an empty braggart and a typical demagogue. This is as one-sided as it is unjust. It was as natural for him to " dictate ", as it was for others to follow. It was his great personality that impressed itself on others. But he was as large-hearted as any man could be. He was, as he himself testified, "of an enthusiastic and excitable disposi- tion'." ^ At the same time he was the " most impetuous and most patient of all the tribunes who ever led the English Chartists." ^ A born leader, he possessed great power of reading the minds of the people and of designing his plans of action according to conditions and circumstances. This often made him yield to popular clamor; but this is the lot of every great leader who can feel the pulse of the masses. He was vain and lacked modesty when speaking of himself ; but he was in no less a degree ready to exaggerate the greatness of others. He could with a sense of self -detach- ment say of himself that he *' led the people from madness to sanity," as he could speak of Bronterre's '' gigantic tal- ents." Holyoake acknowledges O'Connor's "great strength of indifference to what any one of his rivals said against him in his own columns of the Star." ^ He had a deep passion for freedom and, on more than one occasion and in various forms of self-sacrifice, he proved his genuine de- votion to the cause. He was called the Lion of Freedom, and the name was well merited. During the first period of the Chartist agitation, O'Connor cherished no special theories of his own. His Land Plan came at a later stage. But even as early as 1835, he gave notice of his intention to move in Parliament for leave to bring in a bill ^ See English Chartist Circular, vol. i, no. 36. 2 See Holyoake, op. cit., vol. i, p. 106. ^ Ibid., p. 107. 1 09] THE LEADERS 109 to compel landlords to make leases of their land in perpetuity — that is, to give to the tenant a lease for ever, at a corn rent ; to take away the power of distraining for rent; and in all cases where land was held upon lease and was too dear, that the tenant in such cases should have the power of empaneling a jury to assess the real value in the same manner as the crown has the power of making an individual sell property required for what is called public works or conveniences according to the valuation of a jury/ He believed that " the law of primogeniture is the eld- est son of class legislation upon corruption by idleness." ' But unlike most of his Chartist colleagues, he was a strenu- ous opponent of the current Socialist theories. 1 have ever been, and I think I ever shall be opposed to the principles of communism, as advocated by several theorists. I am, nevertheless, a strong advocate of co-operation, which means legitimate exchange, and which circumstances would compel individuals to adopt, to the extent that communism would be beneficial. I have generally found that the strongest advocates of communism are the most lazy members of so- ciety, — a class who would make a division of labor, adjudging to the most pliant and submissive the lion's share of work, and contending that their natural implement was the brain, whilst that of the credulous was the spade, the plough, the sledge and the pickaxe. Communism either destroys whole- some emulation and competition, or else it fixes too high a price upon distinction, and must eventually end in the worst description of despotism . . . whilst, upon the other hand, in- dividual possession and cooperation of labor creates a whole- some bond between all classes of society." ' The English Chartist Circular, vol. ii, no. 6y. 2 See Feargus O'Connor, The Remedy for National Poverty Impend- ing National Ruin, 1841. 3 The Laborer, 1847, vol. i, p. 149. no THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [no As land was, in his opinion, the only source of all wealth so was the unrestricted use of machinery the only source of all social evil : ^ It opens a fictitious, unsettled, and unwholesome market for labor, leaving to the employer complete and entire control over wages and employment. As machinery becomes improved, manual labor is dispensed with, and the dismissed constitute a surplus population of unemployed, system-made paupers, which makes a reserve for the masters to fall back upon, as a means of reducing the price of labor. It makes character valueless. By the application of fictitious money, it overruns the world with produce, and makes labor a drug. It entices the agricultural laborer, under false pretences, from the na- tural and wholesome market, and locates him in an unhealthy atmosphere, where human beings herd together like swine. It destroys the value of real capital in the market, and is capable of affecting every trade, business, and interest, though appar- ently wholly unconnected with its ramifications. It creates a class of tyrants and a class of slaves. Its vast connection with banks, and all the moneyed interests of the country, gives to it an unjust, injurious, anomalous, and direct influence over the government of the country. It was not, however, to the strength of his theories that O'Connor looked for recognition. It was his harangues against the New Poor Law and the Factory System that electrified the masses. Coming as he did in direct contact with the masses and witnessing their distress in all parts of the country, he was from the beginning of the Chartist movement inclined toward a revolutionary policy. To counterbalance the influence of the London Working Men's Association which, according to O'Connor, consisted of skilled mechanics, he founded in 1837 the London Demo- ^ The English Chartist Circular, no. 62. Ill] THE LEADERS 1 1 1 cratic Association, appealing to the '' unshaven chins, blis- tered hands, and fustian jackets " for membership. The objects, besides universal suffrage, included the agitation for liberty of the press, the repeal of the Poor Law, an eight-hour labor day, and the prohibition of child labor. This association eventually became the mouthpiece of the physical force Chartists, disseminating the spirit of revolt all over the country. " In the Democratic Association ", it was subsequently stated in its official organ, " the Jacobin Club again lives and flourishes, and the villainous tyrants shall find to their cost, that England too has her Marats, St. Justs, and Robespierres ".^ O'Connor, however, never identified himself with the extreme wing of the terrorists and once he even repudiated the latter in his characteristic vein. ^ I have always been a man of peace. I have always denounced the man who strove to tamper with an oppressed people by any appeal to physical force. I have always said that moral force was the degree of deliberation in each man's mind which told him when submission was a duty or resistance not a crime ; and that a true application of moral force would efifect every change, but that in case it should fail, physical force would come to its aid like an electric shock — and no man could prevent it ; but that he who advised or attempted to marshal it would be the first to desert it at the moment of danger. God forbid that I should wish to see my country plunged into the horrors of physical revolution. I wish her to win her liberties by peace- ful means alone. His apprehension of a '' physical revolution " did not, nevertheless, in the least mitigate his contempt for those who counseled inactivity and "education". He fully realized ^ The London Democrat, no. 2, 1839. ' The Nonconformist, June 8, 1842. 112 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [112 that there were two parties to the bargain ; that, besides the poor fellow, there was also the rich man who was reluctant to be " educated " in detriment to his personal interests. In his speeches, as well as in his " Star," he repeatedly up- braided the people for having borne oppression too long and too tamely, reminding them that '' it is better to die free men than to live slaves." Professing his faith in the moral power of the working class to establish the rights of the poor man, he used his intrepid eloquence and sallies of wit to bring the masses to the very pit of revolution. James Bronterre O'Brien, widely known as Bronterre, was born in 1805 and was the son of a wine merchant and tobacco manufacturer. In childhood he displayed extra- ordinary abilities and, at the age of ten, he knew Latin, Greek, French and Italian, besides his native language. In the private school w^hich was conducted by Lowell Edge- worth, a brother of the writer, on the monitor system, he showed remarkable proficiency in mathematics and a fine appreciation of literature and poetry. Walter Scott, who had heard of the boy-prodigy, went to see him in school and was filled with admiration. He also- distinguished him- self in Trinity College at Dublin, w^here he received the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts, and at Gray's Inn in London where he was qualifying himself for the bar. He was twenty-five years of age when he was introduced by " Ora- tor " Henry Hunt to the radicals of London as a young- gentleman of great abilities, whose sympathies were entirely with the people. In the account which he gave of himself in the first number of his " National Reformer," January 7, 1837, he says: About eight years ago, I came to London to study law and radical reform. My friends sent me to study law ; I took to radical reform on my own account. I was a very short 113] THE LEADERS II3 time engaged in both studies, when I found the law was all fiction and rascality, and that radical reform was all truth and matter of dire necessity. Having a natural love of truth, and as natural a hatred of falsehood, I soon got sick of law, and gave all my soul to radical reform. The consequence is, that while I have made no progress at all in law, I have made immense progress in radical reform, so much so, that were a professorship of radical reform to be instituted in King's College, I think I would stand candidate for the office. At all events, I feel as though every drop of blood in my veins was radical blood, and as if the very food I swallow undergoes, at the moment of deglutition, a process of radicalization. He started his literary career in 1830, over the signature of Bronterre, in Carpenter s Political Pamphlets. His articles soon attracted the attention of the radicals, and, at the age of twenty-six, he became the chief editor of the Poor Man's Guardian. He was a prolific writer and during the thirties was an important contributor or editor of many magazines, including the Midland Representative, People's Conservative, Carpenter's Political Pamphlets and Political Herald, Poor Man's Guardian, The Destructive, Tzvopenny Despatch. London Mercury, National Reformer, The Operative, Southern Star, Northern Star, and others. In 1836 he translated Buonarroti's History of Babeuf's Con- spiracy for Equality, and, after his visit to Paris, published, in 1837, The Life of Robespierre, in which, in defiance of all prejudice, he depicted the great revolutionist as one of the noblest and most enlightened reformers that the world ever had. He remained all his life a great admirer of Robespierre and Babeuf. The talents of Bronterre were greatly exaggerated by many of his followers, wdio ranked him as a genius, but they were great enough to put him head and shoulders above the average leader of workingmen. The title of " School 1 1 4 THE CHA RTIST M VEMEN T [114 Master" bestowed on him for his learning by O'Connor was fully merited. As a leader, he combined many happy char- acteristics. He was a dreamer and full of temperament, less erratic than O'Connor and more pliant than Lovett. Tall, somewhat stooping, with a fine intellectual cast of head and features, forcible with his tongue not less than with his pen, he exerted a great influence on the masses as well as on the leaders. The goal which he set out to achieve was " social equality for each and all." But in order to obtain social equality, the people had first to get political equality. Political supremacy was the foundation of the whole economic structure. Social theories were, therefore, " useless " until the Charter became the law of the land. At the beginning of his radical career he referred to the Houses of Parliament in the following terms : ^ They might abolish or remodel every institution in Church and State; they might change the whole system of commerce; they might substitute the labor note for the present vicious currency and thus render usury impossible ; they might agree to work in common, and to enjoy in common; or they might arrange to exchange their produce on equitable terms, through salaried agents, without the intervention of base middlemen who are the bane of society. By these and the like means they might silently, but effectually, regenerate the world. This view was elaborated by Bronterre in his writings during the Chartist agitation. The acquisition of universal suffrage was, therefore, imperative in order that the work- ing class may reconstruct the whole basis of society. This became his idee fixe : Without the franchise you can have nothing but what others choose to give you, and those who give to-day, may choose to ' The Poor Man's Guardian, March 1, 1834. 11^] THE LEADERS II5 take azvay to-morrow. Every industrious man who produces more (in value) of the goods of Hfe than he needs for his own or his family's use, ought to own the difference as prop- erty. You are almost all in that condition, for there are few of you who do not yield more value to society every day than society gives you back in return. Why are you not masters of the difference? Why is it not your property? Because cer- tain laws and institutions, which other people make, take it away from you, and give it to the law-makers. But if you were represented as well as they, you would have quite other laws and institutions, which would give the wealth to those who earned it.^ Bronterre was an ardent advocate of nationalization of land. In 1837 he advanced the basic points which he sub- sequently developed into a theory of his own : 1. The absolute dominion, or allodial right to the soil, belongs to the nation only. 2. The nation alone has the just power of leasing out the land for cultivation, and of appropriating the rents accruing therefrom. 3. The size of farms, or the portion of soil to be allotted to individuals or families; also the proportions to be devoted to tillage, pasturage, etc. — also the several other powers now pos- sessed by individual owners, and exercised by them in the granting of leases, etc. — all these are matters which it also belongs to the nation alone to determine in virtue of its rights as absolute landlord of all. 4. Upon this theory every subject of the realm is a part proprietor of the soil. The land being leased out by public auction, whoever bids highest for a lot should get it, because the nation would thereby be the gainer, and as population in- creased, and the land became in consequence more valuable, rents would increase also, and people's inheritance be made greater.^ ^ Bronterre's National Reformer, January 15, 1837. 2 Ibid., Feb. 25, 1837- Il6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ii6 His hostility towards the middle class, the " money- monster ", did not entirely blind him to the advantages of machinery. Nor did he believe with O'Connor that land was the only source of all wealth: The system I combat, and which I wish you to combat, is that by which your profit-mongering oppressors have turned you from agriculturists into manufacturers for all the world. Now, I am not against manufactures, nor against the fine arts, nor against even the largest possible extension and application of both to the purpose of human economy, but I am against the system which would first make these paramount to agricul- ture, and then bestow all the advantages of both on an upstart moneyed aristocracy, who, in drawing you from off the land, have made you more abject slaves to their cupidity, than your forefathers ever were to the feudal barons of the Middle Ages. Agriculture is the most profitable of all pursuits, to a nation considered aggregately ; even now, when scarcely any machin- ery is applied to husbandry, it is a well known fact that one laborer produces food for four persons. How much more he might produce, I leave any one to infer, who has ever seen the rich garden grounds about Chelsea, Fulham, Kensington, and Hammersmith. Is it not monstrous, then, that with this power of production, and with sixty millions of acres of land in Great Britain and Ireland, of which not ten millions are unsusceptible of cultivation, we should see thousands of arti- sans in our great towns, either wholly destitute of employ- ment, or eking out a miserable existence on starving wages, and subject to all the brutalizing privations of health, air, and hap- piness, to which their dependence on the profit-monger and his foreign markets hourly subjects them? ... It is not gold and silver, nor yet bank notes, as the paper-money schemers would have us believe, that have given the prodigious impulse we have witnessed, to improvements in America. It is the abundance of food produced by its agricultural population, that enables so great a number to be employed in constructing 117] THE LEADERS II7 canals, bridges, railroads, etc. The surplus of agricultural produce is the real capital which sets the artisans and handi- craftsmen to work, and covers the States with those embellish- ments and stupendous works of art which astound the Euro- pean traveler.^ It was observations like the above that led him to con- clude that land could never be a " legitimate subject of property ", and that had it not been for individual owner- ship of land, " we should have escaped ninety-nine hun- dredths of all the woes and crimes that have hitherto made a pandemonium of the world." ^ He put land in a class by itself. All other property could be held by individuals in perfect compatibility with public happiness and social justice. If all men are placed equal before the law — if the means of acquiring and retaining wealth are equally secured to all in proportion to the respective industry and services of each, I see no objection to private property. Every man has a right to the value of his own produce or services, be they more or less. If one man can and will do twice the work of another man, he ought certainly in justice to have twice the reward. But if his superior strength or skill gives him the means of acquiring more wealth than his neighbor, it by no means fol- lows that he ought, therefore, to acquire a right or power over his neighbor's produce as well as his own. And here lies the grand evil of society — it is not in private property, but in the unjust and atrocious powers with which the existing laws of all countries invest it. If a man has fairly earned a hundred or a thousand pound's worth of wealth beyond what he has consumed or spent, he has a sacred right to the ex- clusive use of it, if he thinks proper ; but he has no right to use that wealth in such a way as to make it a sort of sucking pump, or thumb-screw for sucking and screwing other ^Bronterre's National Reformer, January 7, 1837. ' The Operative, vol. i, no. 4, 1838. Il8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ug people's produce into his possession. Sir John Cam Hobhouse, for example, . . . has no just right to employ his money in usury or speculation. His money should not be allowed to grow money as cabbage grows cabbage, or weeds grow weeds. To employ money in that way is not to use the right of prop- erty, but to practice robbery. . . . He takes advantage of his ' capital,' and the poverty that surrounds him. He says to the hungry man, Come and labor for me, create fresh wealth for me, and you shall have a small share of your produce to keep you alive. . . . The laborer can stand anything before hunger. Hence. Sir John grows richer and richer every day, without earning any riches at all, while he who produces the riches grows poorer and poorer, as age diminishes his strength, till at last he dies in poverty and in the workhouse. . . . The employers of labor and the exchangers of wealth are alone considered in the laws. The producers and active distributors are only thought of as slaves or criminals. Enormous fleets and armies are kept up to protect the merchant's gains. Enor- mous gaols and penitentiaries are kept up for the poor. Thus are the laborers forced to pay, not only for the protection of those who plunder them, but for the very instruments of their own torture and misery. Buonarroti considers all these results inseparable from private property. So did Babeuf — so did thousands of the French Democrats of 1793 — so do Robert Owen and his disciples of the present day. I think differ- ently. I will never admit that private property is incom- patible with public happiness, till I see it fairly tried. I never found an objection urged against it, which I can not trace to the abuse, not to the use of the institution. ... I assert that such [enlightened] government would place commerce and manufactures upon a totally different footing from the present, and make the land the common property of all the inhabitants, and that, without any real or material injury to the existing proprietors. .1 hold, and I am sure I can prove, that such a dispensation of things is within the power of an enlightened legislature, fairly representing all classes.^ 1 The English Chartist Circular, vol. i, no. 18. lig] THE LEADERS II9 Radical and talented as Bronterre was, his strong pre- dilections for the views of Robespierre and Babeuf entirely- blurred his vision of the evolutionary laws of society. In the preface to his translation of Buonarroti's History of Babeuf s Conspiracy for Equality, he cites, among others, the following reasons for rendering the work into English. Because Buonarroti's book contains one of the best exposi- tions I have seen of those great political and social principles which I have so long advocated in the Poor Man's Guardian and other publications. . . . Society has been hitherto con- stituted upon no fixed principles. The state in which we find it is the blind result of chance. Even its advocates do not claim for it any other origin. The right of the strongest — the only right acknowledged by savage man — appears to be still the fundamental charter of all " civilized " states What the savage or uncivilized man does individually and directly by the exercise of mere personal prowess, the civilized man (so called) does collectively and circuitously by cunningly- designed institutions. The effects of these institutions are well depicted by Buonarroti. He shows, with admirable abil- ity, how, in trying to escape the evils of savage life, man has unconsciously plunged into another state far more calamitous — to wit, the present artificial state, which he terms that of " false civilization." He shows, that to correct the evils of this latter state, without at the same time retrograding to the former, was the grand problem sought to be resolved by the first French Revolution, and, in discussing the principles and institutions deemed necessary to that end by the leaders of the Revolution, I was so forcibly struck by the coincidence of Buonarroti's ideas with my own, that I immediately re- solved to translate the book. The omnipotence which he attributed to political rights precluded his correct appreciation of the economic forces of society. The rise of the middle class forced his recog- nition, but he ascribed it to the political importance of that 120 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [120 class, which in his mind was merely " the blind result of chance/' and he sought to crush the " money-monster " with its own weapon — political power. In this respect he was in full accord with Lovett and his friends of the London Work- ing Men's Association, never tiring of agitating for uni- versal suffrage as the only remedy for social maladies. The economic role of the working class as a factor in social evolution he neither recognized nor understood. Thomas Attzvood was a valuable accession to the Chartist leaders on account of his previous association with the Birmingham Political Union. He was a Birmingham banker, and his interest in currency reform led him into ac- tive politics. At the beginning of his political career, he looked with contempt upon the "poor wretches," the radicals, who " clamor for Burdett and liberty meaning blood and anarchy." After the defeat of his currency measures in Parliament, he proclaimed himself a radical reformer, and in December, 1829, together with fourteen others, he founded the " Birmingham Political Union for the Pro- tection of Public Rights " and rendered yeoman's service in the agitation for the Reform Bill of 1832. He was ex- tremely popular among all classes, and, as a politician, he adopted a somewhat modern method of gaining support by kissing the children and very often bestowing this token of recognition upon the mothers of the children. At one elec- tion he was credited to have kissed about eight thousand women. Among the Chartists, he belonged to the moral- force group. As the leader of the Birmingham Currency School, he attributed every trouble which befell England to the re- sumption of specie-payment in 1819 and advocated the in- flation of the currency by means of paper money, whose standard should be regulated in accordance with fluctuating I2i] THE LEADERS 121 prices. His pamphlets on monetary questions made him widely known, although he met with little sympathy in Par- liamentary circles as well as among the radicals. Disraeli described him as a provincial banker laboring under a financial monomania. Cobbett accused him of desiring to keep up " an army deadweight, sinecures, places and pen- sions, the Stock Exchange in full swing and the infamous borough-mongers in the height of prosperity." O'Connor used to call his financial schemes " rag-botheration." An official declaration of the Chartists referred to the '' cor- rupting influence of paper money " as the most " oppressive measure," by which the workingmen were " enslaved ".^ Attwood, however, never tired of his agitation in favor of paper currency and worked the hardest for the People's Charter, harboring the belief that an ideal monetary reform would be enacted by a democratic Parliament. Henry Hetherington was another man whose great popu- larity lent considerable support to the moral-force group of Chartists. He was not an orator of any force or elo- quence, but enjoyed an enviable reputation as the champion and martyr of the battle for an unstamped press. Prisons had no terrors for him, and for a period of five years ■ he published the Poor Man's Guardian in open "defiance of lazv to try the power of right against might.'' In 1836 his Twopenny Despatch took the lead in the courageous strug- gle for a free and popular press. After the formation of the London Working Men's Association he was one of the missionaries who were sent out to organize similar bodies all over the country. As a Chartist he professed intimate sympathy with the principles and policies of his friend Lovett. 1 See Hansard, vol. xlix, 1839, p. 242; cf. also Bronterre's view, supra, p. 116. ^ Dec. 25, 1830, to Dec. 20, 1835. CHAPTER VIII I am here to blow to the uttermost ends of the earth that lie — the impious and blasphemous lie of the hirelings — that you are bound to obey laws with- out knowing what they are. . . . Noth- ing can be more wicked or diabolical than that. Before you obey a law, you must know whether it is good or bad. — Rev. J. R. Stephens. The Gospel of Revolt William Lovett was the apostle of Moral Force. He had unbounded faith in the moral propensities of mankind. Since ignorance alone was at the root of all oppression, it was necessary only to awaken the dormant faculties of mind in order to assure the blissful regeneration of society. It was natural, then, that he should inspire the London Work- ing Men's Association not to " rely on the mere excitation of the multitude to condemn bad men or measures, or to change one despot for another.'' No force other than moral suasion, backed by political and social education, would enable the people " to found their institutions on principles of equality, truth, and justice." ^ O'Connor and Bronterre made no religion of Moral Force. They advocated "Peace and Order" not as a maxim, but as a policy. When the temper of the people dic- tated a different policy, they did not contradict it, — they ^ See "Address to the Working Classes of Europe, and especially to the Polish People," in Life and Struggles of William Lovett, pp. 150- 158. 122 [122 123] -^^^ GOSPEL OF REVOLT 123 did not even apologize, — they simply yielded to the in- evitable. Physical Force as a philosophy and Revolt as an apotheosis of justice were broached by a different set of men who exerted a dominant influence on the masses during the first period of the movement. Joseph Ray nor Stephens, the apostle of revolt and the only Chartist who at one time vied with O'Connor in popu- larity, was born on the i8th of March, 1805, at Edinburgh, where his father was a Methodist preacher. He made the best of his elementary education when yet quite young. After teaching school for two years, he became a Methodist preacher in 1825, and the following year was appointed to a mission station at Stockholm, Sweden. In 1829 he was ordained as a Wesleyan minister and in 1830 was stationed at Cheltenham. His Wesleyan career ended in 1834, when he was dismissed for his association with Richard Oastler in the agitation for the improvement of the condition of factory laborers. The dismissal from the ministry raised him in the estimation of the working men. But it was his subsequent scathing attacks on the New Poor Law that endeared him to the masses who before long erected for him three chapels in the Ashton district. Besides his regu- lar sermons in the chapels, he made use of the public market to harangue big crowds and to teach them not to " care for an Act of Parliament ", as it was only " waste paper ", " treason ", and " blasphemy ", unless it tended to promote happiness among men. He was never shy in the choice of his epithets against the ruling classes, and it was for this that Francis Place characterized him as a " malignant, crazy man who never seemed exhausted with bawling atrocious matter." Stephens did not consider himself a radical, but, as " a revolutionist by fire, a revolutionist by blood, to the knife, 124 '^^'^^ CHARTIST MOVEMENT [124 to the death," be joined the ranks of the Chartists, pro- claiming the question of universal suffrage to be, after all, " a knife and fork question." ^ He was recognized as the greatest Chartist orator. A master on the platform, he pos- sessed personal magnetism, felicity of expression and a singular style of oratory which, at his best, made him irresistible. Vehement inflammatory declamations inter- woven with passages of classical beauty ; rugged expressions of protest mingled with sentiments of love and devotion; scenes of revolting despondency redeemed by prophetic pro- mises of a happy life; curses sputtered in a voice that could be distinctly heard by twenty thousand persons in the open air soothed by intonations of musical cadence; stories of every-day life, so near and familiar, followed by strange but exalted citations from the Bible, — all this rendered his spell the more dominant because of the spectacular effect produced by the black robe of a minister of the gospel. His sermons were partly religious and partly political, but in all he exposed the crying injustice of the economic system. His pictures of women bleeding to death from overwork in factories, of children in mortal terror of the workhouse, of old men and old women dying from starvation, produced a lurid effect on the minds of his hearers and made them the more susceptible to his subtle allusions to force. He made extensive use of the gospel to popularize his philosophy of social justice. He preached class consciousness and or- ganization as he preached religion. He urged insurrection as he extolled the names of the Prophets. He inspired courage in emulation of Christ : Oh, my brethren, look neither to this man nor to that man, but pray to God Almighty to raise up among you prophets like unto Moses and Joshua and Hezekiah and Ezekiel and Mala- ' See Annual Register, vol. Ixxx, 1839, P- 3ii- 125] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT 1 25 chi, and Amos and Jonah ; pray to God to raise up apostles like Peter and Paul and John ; pray God to raise up men filled with his favor; men whose hearts are filled with love to their brethren ; pray God to send such men out, with their lives in their hands, to launch his thunderbolts at the head of the op- pressor, and to shed his blessing upon the heads of those who in obedience, reverential, child-like obedience, love to follow in the way of his commandments. You will never have freedom or happiness in England ; this land will never be worth living in — it is not worth living in now, if it were not for the hope in God that it may be better ; if there be a hell upon earth comparatively with other nations of the world, it is England; if the devil has any seat of au- thority — any kingdom where he rules more infernally than in any other part of the world, it is England at this moment. Look where you will ; cast your eyes abroad from the political head to the political foot, there is no soundness in us ; there is nothing '' but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores," and the only balm of Gilead, the only good physician is yonder Good Physician — he who laid down his life for the world. Pray, then, for the spirit of God to be poured out ; pray for the spirit of God to come down; pray for the spirit of determined and decided men once more to be imparted . . . ; pray that God would fill you with his truth, that he would raise you up and carry you far beyond the fear of man ; and when your own soul is let loose, when your own mind is free, when your own heart is big and swollen, and entirely filled with the fear of God, you will never be afraid of what men can say or do unto you. You will say, " He that is for me, is greater than all that are against me " ; and you will go on in the name, and in the strength of God, and you will be a Christian Reformer. We want in England Christian Reformers.^ Resistance to bad laws is, according to Stephens, as 1 A Sermon Preached at Hyde, in Lancashire, on the i/th of Feb- ruary, 1839. 126 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [126 exalted a virtue as is obedience to good laws. Allegiance per se is not an end; if the law affords no protection, it must be disobeyed. His appeal for rebellion was direct : Are the Spitalfields weavers protected, when not one in a hun- dred of them, after working twelve hours a day, can earn 12s. a week? Are the handloom weavers of the north protected, when they cannot, with all their toil, earn more than 7s. a week ? I have known girls eight years of age working at the anvil, mak- ing nails from six in the morning until eight or nine at night, and on Friday all night long, and, after all, could not earn more than is. 6d. per week. The mother worked equal time, and whilst she was at work, one of her children was burnt almost to a cinder, and she could only earn 3s. a week, whilst the grandmother could get no more than is. 6d. Do those poor creatures owe allegiance to the laws? Are they pro- tectedf Do the poor wretches of the factories — the carders, the piecers, the scavengers, dressers, weavers, and spinners — do they owe allegiance to the laws? Does the agricultural laborer, who can only earn 8s. a week, owe submission to the laws? The law, in establishing oppression, makes the op- pressed its deadly enemy.^ Stephens dwelt little on the political aspects of the Char- ter. He aimed chiefly to impress the masses wath the realization of the iniquitous economic and social system. " You see yonder factory with its towering chimney. Every brick in that factory is cemented with the blood of women and little children ", — he said on one occasion. He always warned his hearers against passiveness. On January i, 1838, referring to the New Poor Law, he admonished a Newcastle audience that " sooner than wife and husband, and father and son, should be sundered and dungeoned, and ^ A Sermon Preached in Shepherd and Shepherdess Fields, London, on Sunday, May 12, 1839. 127] -^^^ GOSPEL OF REVOLT 127 fed on ' skillee ', — sooner th^n wife or daughter should wear the prison dress — sooner than that — Newcastle ought to be, and should be — one blaze of fire, with only one way to put it out, and that with the blood of all who supported this abominable measure." He recurred to this theme in most of his sermons, and once he declared tersely : I have never acknowledged the authority of the New Poor Law, and so help me God I never will. I never paid my rates under it, and so help me God I never will — they may take every chair, every table and every bed I have — they may pull my house over my head, and send me and my wife and my child wander- ers on the heaths and the hills — they may take all but my wife, my child, and my life, but pay one penny I never will. If they dare attempt to take them, and it becomes necessary to repel force by force, there will be a knife, a pike, or a bullet at hand, and if I am to fall, I will at least sell life for life. I exhort you and all others to do the same. I do not mean to flinch. I will recommend nothing which I will not do. I tell you that if they attempt to carry into effect this damnable law, I mean to fight. I will lay aside the black coat for the red, and with the Bible in one hand and a sword in the other — a sword of steel, not of argument — I will fight to the death sooner than that law shall be brought into operation on me or on others with my consent or through my silence Perish trade and manufacture — perish arts, literature and science — perish palace, throne and altar — if they can only stand upon the dissolution of the marriage tie — the annihilation of every domestic affection, and the vilest and most brutal oppres- sion ever yet practiced upon the poor of any country in the world. ^ The most salient feature in his sermons, besides their inciting character, was the subjection of politics to eco- ^ A Sermon Preached at Primrose Hill, London, on Sunday, May 12, 1839. 128 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [128 nomic ends. Contrary to well-nigh all Chartists, he never made universal suffrage synonymous with universal happi- ness- He believed that every man without a home, or whose home was *' not all that God meant it to be," was robbed and had, therefore, " a just cause for quarrel Avith society." ^ He gave his allegiance to the People's Charter in so far as it aimed to assure a happy home for every man " that breathed God's free air or trod God's free earth." But at the same time he realized, and endeavored to make the people realize that the Charter would be of no avail without a strong, organized, revolutionary movement for the purpose of ef- fecting a complete change in the economic system: There has already been too much of what is called political reform, the juggling of the places from one to another, the passing of the pea from one cup to another cup to amuse and to deceive, and ultimately to destroy the people ; and every step you take is a step nearer to hell. All the laws in England could not make Hyde one hit the better unless the people were a changed people. An Act of Parliament cannot change the hearts of the tyrants Ashton and Howard. These men have made themselves rich by making you poor. They have swollen with wealth by plundering you. Now, all the laws in England could not change the hearts of those wicked men ; and unless their hearts were changed, and your hearts were changed, what could the law do? There would be a thousand ways of breaking through it ; a thousand ways of avoiding it and of screening those who were detected, even after they had broken the law. It could do no good. Your minds must be made up. You, husbands! unless your minds be made up that your wives ought not and shall not work ; that rather than kill your wives by allowing them to work, you will allow God to take their lives by gradual starvation. . . . But God Almighty ^ A Sermon Preached in Shepherd and Shepherdess Fields, London, on Sunday, May 12, 1839. 129] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT 1 29 is moving the working classes in the country, and therefore I exhort you to give yourself to prayer. Pray God to sound the alarm from one end of the land to the other ; and then, in the spirit of self-denial, and self-sacrifice, and devotion, be united as the heart of one man, and as one united and in- dissoluble phalanx, God leading you by a pillar of fire by night, and by a pillar of cloud by day, wend your way and force your passage through the wilderness of the promised land — the land that flows with milk and honey. It is high time there was some mighty movement.^ The emphasis which Stephens always laid on the economic aspects of the movement, not less than his advocacy of physical force, precluded Lovett and his friends from re- cognizing him as a bona fide Chartist. In an Address to the Irish People, published in August, 1838, in reply to the Precursors, the London Working Men's Association disclaimed all affiliation with Stephens, who was labeled as a man " more known for his opposition to the New Poor Law than for his advocacy of Radicalism ", and who " ridi- culed our principles and publicly declared his want of con- fidence in us." " His sermons support the suspicion that in his heart of hearts he probably never believed in the efficacy of political agitation. It may have been the vanity of a popular idol and the fear of losing his grip on the people that restrained him from speaking his mind ; he may have felt reluctant to disillusion the masses in their faith in the talismanic power of the Charter; he may have himself been unconsciously caught in the maelstrom of universal agita- tion, or he may have cast his lot with the Chartists simply because the new movement afforded a wide field for the dissemination of his revolutionary ideas. At any rate, his 1 A Sermon Preached at Hyde, in Lancashire, on the 17th of Feb- ruary, 1839. * William Lovett, Life and Struggles, p. 195. 130 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [130 skepticism became the more pronounced the sterner the gov- ernment became in its hostility towards the movement. In a sermon preached at Ashton on May 26th, 1839, he warned the people of the futility of abortive demonstrations and desultory fighting and advised them to divide themselves into little bands of five or ten in a company and to meet at each other's houses, and " there over the hearthstone, without books and papers, without speeches and resolutions, with- out anything but talking and praying, tell one another what they think, and ask one another whether they are right, and whether their minds are made up to shed the last drop of blood rather than live in bondage, and sell their wives and children to the devil." And then in an ebullition of in- dignation, he cried out : Down with the House of Commons ; down with the House of Lords ; aye, down with the throfte, and down with the altar itself ; burn the church ; down with all rank, all dignity, all title, all power; unless that dignity, authority, and power will and do secure to the honest industrious efforts of the upright and poor man a comfortable maintenance in exchange for his labor. / don't care about your Charter; it may be all very- right ; it may be all very good ; you have a right to get it, mind you, and I will stand by you in it ; but I don't care about it ; and I don't care about a republic. You have a right to have it if you choose ; and I will stand by you, in defending your right to have it if you choose. I don't care about a monarchy ; I don't care about the present, or any other order of things, unless the Charter, the republic, the monarchy, the present order of things, or any other order of things that may be brought to succeed the present, should, first of all, and above all, and through all, secure to every son of the soil, to every living being of the human kind .... a full, a suffi- cient and a comfortable maintenance, according to the will and commandment of God. That is what I go for; that is what I talk for; that is what I live for; and that is what 131] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT 13I I will die for; for I will have it. I say now what I said before ; the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof ; the cattle upon a thousand hills; the gold and the silver; and he has filled all things with plenteousness. There is nothing nig- gardly from God. There has nothing come in stinging, close- fisted niggardliness from God Almighty. It is all plenty. There is plenty of soil — there is plenty of water — there is plenty of sun — there is plenty of rain — there is plenty of dew — the winter throws a warm blanket of driven snow upon the earth, to cover it and keep it warm : then He sends out the sun to rule the day — refreshing and reviving is the breeze. . . . What have we to thank God for? What have we to bless God for? Does God call upon us to thank Him for nothing? Then what kind of a God is He? And what sort of worshippers does He take us to be? Does He call upon us to bless Him for curses? Then what kind of a Maker, Preserver, and Redeemer, and Judge, is He ; and what kind of workmanship of his Almighty hand are we? No, my brethren, the very thought of such a thing is impiety and blasphemy; God does not ask us to thank Him for nothing; or to bless Him for curses. Then what have we to thank and bless God for? You have to thank and bless God for houses and for lands, for food and for clothing, which He has given you, but which others have taken from you. ... I thank God, who gave me life and breath, and all things richly to enjoy. And if any man asks me where they are, as a laboring man, I answer, " God gave them, but wicked men have taken them from me." But I not only thank God for having given them to me; I not only bless God for having bestowed them upon me, but I trust in God for strength to help me to take them back again. I am alive, and therefore, I thank God, I have the use of my understanding, and the understanding shows me not only what things are, but what things ought to be — and I trust that God, who gave me life, and who still lends me breath, and intrusts me with power of body as well as power of mind — I trust in that God, and I pray to that God, that he would, if it be found that my rights cannot be got back 132 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [132 without it, and by any way short of it, " I pray God literally to teach my hands to war, and my fingers to fight." .... I preach a startling truth ; I preach a sweeping truth ; I preach the truth, which will, if they choose to suffer it, set things right, without hurting any body. If they will not suffer the truth — if they will neither have it, nor forbear from hindering it, then I preach a truth which will be the means, I hope, of destroying them root and branch. It is time the prisoners were let loose ; it is time the dungeon was broken open ; it is time the Bastile was burnt down ; it is time that every working- man in England had the means, and there are the means, and they are not far oft* him, and the Government is beginning to find it out, and is arming the pensioners ; but, unluckily for the devils who arm the pensioners, the pensioners are training the people. . . . You have a right, every working man amongst you has the right to as much for your labor as will keep you and your families.^ For some time the idol of the masses, Stephens, however, lost his influence as soon as his criticism of the Chartist demands became pronounced. It was his heresy in politics that drove him to the Chartists and it was the same heresy that barred him from their ranks. The chief protagonist and pillar of insurrectionism, he was the first to be singled out for persecution by the government and to be denounced by the leaders of the movement. The cult of physical force. however, always had more than one high priest. George Julian Harney, unlike Stephens, devoted his ubiquitous activity to the exclusive agitation for the Charter. He was but twenty years of age when he plunged into the tempestuous sea of the Chartist movement. He came with a halo of martyrdom, having suffered imprisonment, when yet quite a boy, for selling unstamped literature. Brought up 1 The London Democrat, June 8, 1839. 133] "^^^ GOSPEL OF REVOLT 1 33 under extremely adverse circumstances, he cultivated a feeling of antagonism towards the powers that be. He could not boast of a thorough education, but he possessed great natural abilities. He was the man who better than any- other of the Chartist leaders could in time read the hand- writing on the wall, displaying a deep understanding of the social fabric and a keen insight into the role which the work- ing class was destined to play. In many of his writings, he foreshadowed the subsequent principles of scientific Social- ism. At the beginning of his career, however, he was the most violent agitator of physical force. He was the secre- tary of the " London Democratic Association " and, at the age of twenty-two, was the chief writer for The London Democrat which was started on the 13th of April, 1839, to preach the gospel of insurrection. Assuming the name of Friend of the People, he hailed the spirit of Marat with a courage which only youth could inspire: Hail ! spirit of Marat ! Hail ! glorious apostle of Equality ! ! Hail ! immortal martyr of Liberty ! ! ! All Hail ! thou whose imperishable title I have assumed; and oh! may the God of Freedom strengthen me to brave, like thee, the persecution of tyrants and traitors, or (if so doomed) to meet, like thee, a martyr's death ! ^ His style, not refined as that of Bronterre nor as florid as that of O'Connor, was more poignant than that of either of them. His exhortation to revolt was direct. Stephens suggested that " Englishmen have the right not only to have arms, but to take them up in defence of their lives, their wives and children, for their homes and their hearths." ^ Harney made it his " arduous task " to urge zvar with traitors, " war to the knife." In his paper he printed ' The London Democrat, April 13, 1839. * A Sermon Preached at Primrose Hill, on Sunday, May 12, 1839. 134 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [134 " Scenes and Sketches from the French Revolution," depict- ing events and leaders of the movement, " in order that the present generation may derive a lesson from the deeds of the past," learn to avoid the errors, and, in the revolution " which will speedily take place " in England, " imitate the heroic, God-like deeds of the sons of republican France." He called upon the poor and oppressed, the young and the brave, " to strike the home blow, the final blow, the death blow for old England and Freedom," and assuring them that no army could withstand a million of armed men, he exhorted the workingmen to be aniied and prepared to exercise their " first and holiest right, — the sacred right of insurrection " : Men of the East and West, men of the North and South, your success lies with yourselves, depend upon yourselves alone, and your cause will be triumphant . . . Prepare ! Prepare ! ! Prepare ! ! ! Listen not to the men who would preach delay. The man who would now procrastinate is a traitor, and may your vengeance light upon his head. . . . Let me exhort you to arm. . . . Arm to protect your aged parents, arm for your wives and children, arm for your sweethearts and sisters, arm to drive tyranny from the soil and oppression from the judgment-seat. Your country, your posterity, your God de- mands of you to arm! Arm!! Arm!!! . . . Come, then, men of the North, from your snow-capped hills ; come, then, men of the South, from your sunlit valleys ; come to the gather- ing; unite, fraternize, arm, and you will be free.^ As a speaker, Harney was far below the mark. But he always had a sufficient stock of " strong words ", which were in great demand by the masses, and his role was more of an agitator than of a leader." * The London Democrat, April 20, 1839. 2 Cf. R. G. Gammage, History of the Chartist Movement, Newcastle- on-Tyne and London, 1894, pp. 29-30. 135] -^^^ GOSPEL OF REVOLT 1 35 Henry Vincent, " the English Demosthenes ", was an- other man who helped blow the embers of popular dis- content into a consuming flame of revolt. The son of a poor silver-smith, he was compelled to earn his livelihood at the age of eleven. Unable to give him a good education, his father inculcated in him, however, a love for freedom and justice. Vincent became interested in politics in 1828, when he was but fifteen years of age. He was subsequently an active member of the Political Unions at Hull and Lon- don and was one of the members who were deputed by the London Working Men's Association to agitate for the Charter. He was a popular orator of great skill and he used his talents to rouse the passions of the people. Judg- ing by the portrait drawn of him by one of the Chartists, he was the most graceful and winning orator on the Char- tist side: With a fine mellow flexible voice, a florid complexion, and excepting in intervals of passion, a most winning expression, he had only to present himself in order to win all hearts over to his side. His attitude was perhaps the most easy and graceful of any popular orator of the time. For fluency of speech he rivaled all his contemporaries, few of whom were anxious to stand beside him on the platform. His rare power of imitation irresistibly drew peals of laughter from the gravest audience. His versatility, which enabled him to change from the grave to the gay and vice versa, and to assume a dozen various characters in almost as many minutes, was one of the secrets of his success. With the fair sex, his slight hand- some figure, the merry twinkle of his eye, his incomparable mimicry, his passionate bursts of enthusiasm, the rich music of his voice, and above all, his appeals for the elevation of woman, rendered him a universal favorite.^ 1 Gammage, op. cit., p. il. 136 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [136 While the list of the leaders and agitators during the first stages of the movement is by no means complete, special mention must be made of John Frost, the " martyr magis- trate ", who ventured to carry the propaganda of revolt into practice and who subsequently won the hearts of all liberty-seeking people. The son of humble parents, Frost was bom on the 25th of May, 1786, at Newport. In his boyhood, he displayed great abilities. His early education, however, was quite limited, as he lost his father while he was yet in cradle and was brought up by his grandfather, a boot and shoe maker, who cherished the hope of making his grandson useful in his business. After sending him to school in Bristol for a few years, he indentured John to his business. The boy was released, however, through the interference of an uncle, and. at the age of sixteen, was apprenticed to a tailor. Later he became an assistant to a woolen draper in Bristol. At the age of twenty, he went to London, where he worked at the latter trade. At the solicitations of his mother, he returned to Newport and established himself as a draper and tailor. In 1822 a certain Mr. Protheroe, an influential politician of Newport, sued Frost's uncle for an alleged debt of £150. The suit was decided in favor of Protheroe. As bail for his uncle. Frost threatened to expose Protheroe unless his loss were refunded to him. This threat was construed by the court as an attempt at extortion, and to avoid the payment of £1000 damages awarded against him, Frost sold his whole stock, paid all his creditors, with the exception of one relative who had him arrested for a debt of £200. He then surrendered himself as insolvent. In the meantime, an action for libel was brought against him on the ground that he had alluded to the jur}^ as having been ' packed ' and to the witnesses as perjurers. For this, he paid the penalty of six months' confinement in Goldbath I^^] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT 1 37 Fields Prison at London. Popular opinion was, however, in favor of Frost. After his release from prison, he was met on the road, three miles out of Newport, by about fifteen thousand persons with flags and bands of music. He was drawn in the carriage by his townspeople until they reached the bridge, when he was taken out, placed in a chair and carried on men's shoulders in triumph around town. In his youth, while in London, Frost used to attend meet- ings of political clubs at which the writings of Thomas Paine and other radicals were discussed. It was then that he became imbued with radical ideas which he cherished all his life. An avowed adherent of Cobbett, he entered the political arena of his native town in 18 17. He was an in- defatigable advocate of universal suffrage long before the Charter was formulated by the London Working Men's Association. In recognition of his work for municipal re- form, he was elected in 183 1 to the town council of New- port. In 1836, he was appointed by the Secretary of State to the position of borough magistrate. At the same time he was also a Poor Law Guardian. In 1837, he was elected mayor of Newport. In all these offices. Frost distinguished himself for his ability, efficiency, and justice. As Poor Law Guardian, he exerted all his powers to counteract the cruelties of the law. He joined the Newport Working Men's Association in 1838 and took an active part in the proceedings and plans of the organization. The miners, colliers and iron workers were proud of their friend, the magistrate, and accorded him all the honors of a leader. In his relations with people, Frost was always liked for his kind disposition, mild manners and benevolence. Yet it was not for these personal attributes that he won the affection of the masses. His Chartist career, however, forming as it does an integral part of the history of the movement, must be deferred to a later chapter. CHAPTER IX The people's voice is heard around, And martyr's blood cries from the ground; Demanding justice for the brave, And freedom for the British slave. On ! on ye sons of dear-bought fame, Your long-lost rights you must regain. Make tyrants crouch, and traitors see That Britain's sons shall yet be free. — William Aitken. The People The first period of the Chartist movement was marked by a state of ominous excitement in all parts of the coun- try. The agitators for the " six points " joined hands with the antagonists of the New Poor Law and the factory system and spread the spirit of discontent, until the response of the masses was as great as their distress. Within a very short time after its publication, the People's Charter gained millions of adherents. The temper of the people could not be mistaken. Illegal underground societies with sinister objects sprang up alongside of Chartist organizations. An authentic description of one of those societies is given by a contemporary radical who in 1838 was invited to join a " Foreign Affairs Committee " at Birmingham : The object of the society I found to be to cut oft Lord Palmerston's head. Things were bad among workmen in those days, and I had no doubt somebody's head ought to be cut off, and I hoped they had hit upon the right one. The secretary was a Chartist leader named Warden, who ended by cutting his own head off instead, which showed confusion of 138 [138 129] THE PEOPLE 139 ideas by which Lord Palmerston profited. Poor Warden cut his own throat.^ The first important public demonstration in favor of the Charter was held at Glasgow on the 28th of May, 1838, under the auspices of the Working Men's Association. In order to render the demonstration most effective, the Bir- mingham Political Union sent a fraternal delegation headed by Thomas Attwood. The procession of about two hun- dred thousand working men and women was arranged with great pomp. Forty bands of music were placed at equal distances, and over two hundred flags and banners with various devices were carried along the line of the march. The Birmingham delegates were met with an outburst of enthu- siasm and were accorded great honors, in appreciation of the prestige they lent to the demonstration. Of the speeches, the most characteristic was that of Thomas Attwood, who explained the objects of the Charter and developed a plan of petitioning Parliament. Regarding the movement as purely political, he warned the people that they had against them " the whole of the aristocracy, nine-tenths of the gen- try, the great body of the clergy, and all the pensioners, sinecurists, and bloodsuckers that feed on the vitals of the people." But he spoke in a most hopeful strain of his own class, declaring that if Parliament refused to concede the popular demands, the workingmen, together with their friends of the middle class, should proclaim a " sacred strike." Attwood's expectations of support from the middle class was strengthened by the fact that prominent members of that class participated in the demonstration. The pro- vincial Scotch merchants and manufacturers were not yet ^ George Jacob Holyoake, Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life, Lon- don, 1900, vol. ii, p. 77. I^o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [140 conscious of the real causes which spurred the working class to the struggle. Assurances of the peaceful designs of the leaders were also given by a delegate from the Lon- don Working Men's Association, and the middle class was fairly represented at the banquet which took place in the evening. Things did not run so smoothly at the manifestation in Newcastle-on-Tyne which was held by about eighty thou- sand persons on the 27th of June, 1838, the date of the coronation of Victoria. To begin with, the inscriptions on the banners were not of a conciliatory character. One of them expressed exaltation of "Freedom" in Byron's words : When once more her hosts assemble, Let the tyrants only tremble ; Smile they at this idle threat? Crimson tears may follow yet. Another motto, taken from the same poet and characteristic of a number of others, referred to " Revolution " : I've seen some nations, like o'er-loaded asses, Kick off their burdens, meaning the high classes. The speeches were delivered in a rather defiant strain. One of the speakers, a working man, declared that the people would use " every means, — not every legal means, mark ! — but every means for the attainment of universal suffrage." He adverted to the coronation of the Queen in no conven- tional style: They had the representative of the despot Nicholas, and of the sleek tyrant Louis Philippe, and the representatives from all their brother tyrants, assisting to crown sovereign of a great nation a little girl who would be more usefully and properly employed at her needle; but the people would be no longer led away by their gaudy trappings ; they would look to themselves and to their families, for if they saw the 141 ] THE PEOPLE 141 gewgaws of royalty on the one side, they would see the damn- able Bastile on the other. Feargus O'Connor was one of the star speakers. With his characteristic wit and sarcasm he assailed the New Poor Law : Harry Brougham said they wished no poor law as every young man ought to lay up provision for old age ; yet, while he said this with one side of his mouth, he was screwing the other side to get his retiring pension raised from £4,000 to i5,ooo a year. But if the people had their rights they would not pay his salary. Harry would go to the treasury, he would knock, but Cerberus would not open the door, he would say, " Who is there? ", and then luckless Harry would answer, " It's an ex-chancellor coming for his £1,250, a quarter's salary"; but Cerberus would say, " There have been a dozen of ye here to-day already, and there is nothing for ye." Then Harry would cry, " Oh! what will become of me! what shall I do ! " and Cerberus would say, " Go into the Bastile that you have provided for the people! " Then when Lord Harry and Lady Harry went into the Bastile, the keeper would say, " This is your ward to the right, and this, my lady, is your ward to the left ; we are Malthusians here, and are afraid you would breed, therefore you must be kept asunder." If he witnessed such a scene as this he might have some pity for Lady Brougham, but little pity would be due to Lord Harry.* While O'Connor was speaking, a body of dragoons, a line of cavalry and a column of infantry appeared near the meeting. This caused great indignation among the crowd. O'Connor expressed his regret that the men were not in a condition to repel force by force. He warned the " brats of aristocracy " to take care " lest they dared the people to assemble and bring their arms too — they would find there 1 R. G. Gammage, op. cit., p. 26. 142 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [142 were gallant hearts and virtuous arms under a black coat as well as under a red one." The troops were apparently determined to provoke the people to resistance, but the dis- cretion of the people averted a riot, and the meeting was concluded in perfect order. Public meetings were also held with distinct success in Sunderland and Northampton. The addresses by Vincent and others were received with great enthusiasm. The Whig rule was contrasted with the honeyed promises made by the party before it came into power. Unanimous resolutions in favor of the People's Charter were carried with shouts of joy and defiance. These meetings were followed on the 6th of August by a great demonstration at Birmingham. Arranged under the auspices of the famous Political Union of that city, the parade attracted the workingmen of the whole manufacturing district. About two hundred thou- sand persons were said to have participated in the proces- sion. The Birmingham division was followed by six others from Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Halesowen, War- wick and Studley. The trades were represented with their flags and banners inscribed with appropriate mottoes. Feargus O'Connor was introduced amidst loud cheers, as representing six towns in Yorkshire. Thomas Attwood, who presided at the meeting, reiterated his moral force policy, but at the same time threatened the House of Commons that should the Charter not be speedily granted, the people would be forced to exercise a little gentle compulsion. He again suggested a general strike of one week as a means of im- pressing the government. It was at this meeting that O'Con- nor for the first time introduced his physical force notions. The people yearned for a strong word, and he knew how to please them. The whole tenor of his speech was in har- mony with the exhortation to " flesh every sword to the 143] ^^^ PEOPLE 143 hilt." While the crowd demonstrated its approval of O'Connor's sentiments, the local leaders could hardly re- press their feelings against the speaker. The meeting, how- ever, was concluded in perfect peace. Important resolutions were adopted calling upon all workingmen to sign a Nor- tional Petition for the enactment of the Charter and to elect delegates to a General Convention of the Industrious Classes.^ O'Connor's allusion to physical force caused unfavorable comment in the press and great anxiety among the leaders of the London Working Men's Association. As the 17th of September was fixed for a grand demonstration in Lon- don, the Association seized the opportunity to repudiate O'Connor by instructing its speakers " to keep as closely as possible to the two great questions of the meeting — the Charter and the Petition — and as far as possible to avoid all extraneous matter or party politics, as well as every abusive or violent expression which may tend to injure our glorious cause." * Apprehensive of fostering the sentiments created by the Birmingham manifestation, the London Working Men's Association endeavored to have the metropolitan meeting arranged with as little pomp and display as was possible under the circumstances. In order to invest the proceedings with some air of authority, the high bailiff of Westminster was requested to convene the meeting. It may have been due to these circumstances that the Palace Yard demonstra- tion, although represented by delegates from eighty-nine towns, was attended by a comparatively small assembly of about thirty thousand persons. Practically every speaker cautioned against violence. But this very fact betrayed * Cf. infra, ch. x. ' William Lovett, op. cit., p. 181. 144 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [144 the alarm which was felt by the leaders. It was evident that the mood of the masses was beyond control. One of the speakers, a delegate from Newcastle, referred to the right of the people to assert their own independence in no ambiguous terms : The men of the north are well organized. The men of New- castle would dare to defend with their arms what they utter with their tongues, as the military would have learned on the coronation day had they made any attack upon the meeting. We are willing to try all moral means that are left, we are willing to try a throne, so long as it is conducive to the happi- ness of the people ; we are willing to have an aristocracy, so long as they behave themselves civilly ; but we think we have a right to have a reciprocity of rights, and if not, we are pre- pared to go against the throne and the aristocracy. The men of the Tyne and the Wear would not draw their swords until their enemies draw upon them, but having once put their hands to the plough they would never look back.^ O'Connor, who appeared as a representative of forty or fifty towns in Scotland and England, delivered one of his wittiest speeches. The people, he said, were called pick- pockets. There was, however, a striking difference between a poor pickpocket and a rich pickpocket: "the poor man picked the rich man's pocket to fill his belly, and the rich man picked the poor man's belly to fill his pocket." He proclaimed that the people did not want the obsolete con- stitution of tallow and wind, but a constitution " of a rail- road genius, propelled by steam power and enlightened by the rays of gas." Every conquest which was called honor- able had been achieved by physical force, but the Chartists did not want it, because " if all hands were pulling for uni- versal suffrage, they would soon pull down the stronghold * Gammage, op. cit., p. 49. 145] ^^^ PEOPLE 145 of corruption." O'Connor was followed by several speak- ers who alluded to physical force in similar vein. A dele- gate from Manchester expressed his conviction that the people had a right to arm in defence of their liberties and, if the Petition failed, he defied " the power of any govern- ment or any armed Bourbon police " to put down the armed people.^ The meeting which lasted over five hours adopted Lovett's resolution in favor of the People's Charter and responded to the Birmingham call by collecting about sixteen thou- sand signatures to the National Petition and appointing eight delegates to the General Convention which was to meet in London " to watch over the presentation of the Petition and to obtain, by all legal and constitutional means, the enactment of the People's Charter." In order to avoid an open rupture with O'Connor and, at the same time, to counteract the effect of the " physical force swagger ", the London Working Men's Association, immediately after the Palace Yard demonstration, prepared an Address to the Irish People, imploring " the co-operation of rich and poor, male and female, the sober, the reflecting, and the industrious " to carry forward the principles of moral force : We are not going to affirm that we have been altogether guilt- less of impropriety of language, for when the eye dwells on extremest poverty trampled on by severe oppression, the heart often forces a language from the tongue which sober re- flection would redeem, and sound judgment condemn. But we deny that we are influenced by any other feelings than a desire to see our institutions peaceably and orderly based upon principles of justice. We believe that a Parliament com- posed of the wise and good of all classes, would devise means 1 Gammage, op. cit., pp. 50-53. 1^6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [146 of improving the condition of the millions, without injury to the just interests of the few. We feel that unjust interests have been fostered under an unjust system, that it would be equally unjust to remove without due precaution; and, when due, individual indemnification. We are as desirous as the most scrupulous conservative of protecting all that is good^ wise and just in our institutions, and to hold as sacred and secure the domain of the rich equally with the cottage of the poor. But we repeat that we seek to effect our object in peace, with no other force than that of argument or persuasion.^ Regardless of the fact that the Address v^as signed " on behalf of one hundred and thirty-six workingmen's and radical associations ", actual events showed that the influ- ence of the London Working Men's Association was on the wane. The meetings began to assume a formidable aspect even as early as the autumn of 1838. The Manchester demonstration of September 25th was arranged on a gigantic scale. There was scarcely a village in the Lan- cashire district that did not contribute its quota to the as- sembly of about three hundred thousand persons who demonstrated their determination to have the Charter be- come the law of the land. Practically all workshops and factories throughout the district were closed. The hun- dreds of flags and banners had various devices and mottoes of a threatening character. " Murder demands justice " w^as the comment inscribed under a picture of the Peterloo massacre. Another banner represented a hand grasping a dagger and bore the gruesome inscription: "Oh, tyrants I will you force us to this?" A spirit of enthusiasm pervaded the line, and the warnings of vengeance brought forth deaf- ening cheers of the crowds. O'Connor and Stephens, who were among the speakers, received a royal reception. The 1 William Lovett, op. cit., pp. 188-9. 147] ^^^ PEOPLE 147 meeting which was presided over by John Fielden, the popular advocate of factory reform and opponent of the New Poor Law, adopted a resolution in favor of the Charter and elected eight delegates to the Convention. The Alanchester demonstration was followed on the 15th of October by one in the west of Yorkshire, Peep Green having been selected as the fittest place between Leeds and Huddersfield. The gathering comprised about two hun- dred and fifty thousand persons, who enjoyed all the attrac- tions of the other manifestations, including bands of music, banners, flags, inscriptions, and addresses by O'Con- nor and other stars. Similar demonstrations were subse- quently held in Liverpool and in a number of other cities all over the country, which adopted resolutions in favor of the People's Charter and elected representatives to the Gen- eral Convention. The people of the West were agitated by their favorite orator, Henry Vincent. He kept the workingmen of Bris- tol, Bath, Bradford, Cheltenham and other cities in a state of constant excitement. A great pet of the women, he organized a number of radical female associations, and hundreds of names were enrolled every day in favor of the Charter. He also succeeded in establishing his supremacy in the Welsh territory. This was a distinct victory for the young and ardent orator. On account of the relatively high wages paid to the operatives in the coal and iron districts, the Welsh workingmen had been considered immune from all radicalism. Vincent, however, roused the dormant dis- content of the wage-earners and within a short time, in spite of the urgent appeals made by high personages against the Charter, gained the unflinching support of the masses and actually prepared them for the " death-dance of revo- lution." The frequent manifestations in favor of the Charter 148 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [148 fostered the spirit of revolt. The six points were repre- sented as tantamount to the sum total of human happiness, and the working people decided to win the Charter at all hazards. As the demonstrations by day incurred loss of time during working hours and as the authorities started to thwart indoor meetings by refusing the use of the com- modious town halls, the leaders seized the opportunity of fanning the passions of the people by arranging a series of torch-light processions in a number of cities, including the industrial centres of Bolton, Ashton, Stockport, Staley- bridge, Hyde and Leigh. The meetings proved a great suc- cess, attracting in each case tens of thousands of working men and women who pledged their lives in allegiance to the cause. The processions usually passed the principal streets of each city cheering the leaders and denouncing those newspapers, magistrates and manufacturers who had shown antagonism to the movement. Bands of music pre- ceeded the march, while banners of various sizes and colors and bearing revolutionary devices were carried in the blaz- ing stream of torch lights. " For children and wife, we'll war to the knife! "; " He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one "; " Remember the bloody deeds of Peterloo ", and " Tyrants, believe and tremble ", — these were common mottoes at the demonstrations. The meet- ings were always attended by one or more of the lions of. the inovement, — O'Connor, Stephens, and Harney being the chief speakers. At the torch-light meeting which was held on the 14th of November, 1838, at Hyde, Stephens, sur- rounded by a large number of men wearing and carrying upon poles red caps of liberty, branded the manufacturers as a gang of murderers whose blood was required to satisfy the demands of public justice. He advised every one of his hearers to get a large carving knife which might be used to cut either a rasher of bacon or the men who op- posed their demands. 149] '^^^ PEOPLE 149 The agitators of physical force found the field ready. As a matter of fact, thousands of men in all parts of the coun- try were at that time secretly making arms. The Man- chester delegate to the Palace Yard demonstration in London declared that the people of Lancashire were armed, that he himself had seen the arms hanging over the mantlepieces of the poor.^ At the torch-light meetings, weapons were brandished and frequent discharges from firearms were made for no other purpose than to impress the authorities with the fact that the people were armed. At the Hyde meeting Stephens asked his hearers if they were ready to resist force by force. The loud firing of arms and the forest of hands raised in response to his question satisfied the agitator that it was all right, that the people knew how to repel the enemy in a way which would tell sharper tales than their tongues.^ The excitement grew even more intense after the publica- tion of a letter which Lord John Russell sent on the 22nd of November, 1838, to the Lancashire magistrates, re- questing them to announce the illegality of torchlight meet- ings and to use all means to prevent and disperse such gath- erings. Lord Russell was denounced as the tool of the middle class particularly because only a few weeks before he had given expression to sentiments of a diametrically opposite nature. Speaking at a dinner given in his honor by the civic authorities of Liverpool and referring to the public demonstrations in favor of the Charter, he said : There were some, perhaps, who would put down such meetings ; but such was not his opinion nor that of the Gov- ernment with which he acted. He thought the people had a right to meet. H they had no grievances, common sense would 1 Gammage, op. cit., p. 52. * Ibid., p. 97. I^O THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [150 speedily come to the rescue and put an end to those meetings. It was not from free discussion, it was not from the unchecked declaration of public opinion that government had anything to fear. There was fear when men were driven by force to secret combinations. There was the fear, there was the danger, and not in free discussion.^ The people, in their indignation, defied the government and publicly trampled under foot the royal proclamation of the middle of December which, on penalty of imprison- ment, enjoined all persons to desist from participating in torch-light meetings. The chasm between the workingmen and the middle class became ever wider. If a workingman failed to abuse the middle class, he was himself vilified and denounced. The bearing of arms became more general. Holyoake witnessed in Birmingham that those who had no better weapons " sharpened an old file and stuck it in a haft." ^ The Dundee Advertiser of April 12, 1839, de- clared that " a number of infatuated individuals " had com- menced drilling and intimated that the authorities were keeping an eye over them : " Shackles in place of pikes will shortly be the upshot to those who engage in such danger- ous pastime." Even women started to organize themselves and in several instances procured arms.^ This was par- ticularly striking in Welsh towns where Vincent had perfect control over the situation and where he had organized a number of female Chartist associations. At a public meet- ing in Pentonville he invoked the people to swear that they would be ready to act if their demands were rejected by the government, and he called upon all who were prepared to turn out to hold up their anns. His appeal was answered ' Cf. Hansard, o/>. cit., vol. xHx, 1839, p. 455. • Holyoake, op. cit., vol. i, p. 83. • Cf. Richard Marsden in The London Democrat, May ri, 1839. 151] THE PEOPLE 151 by thunderous shouts, "We swear! We swear!" and a majority of those present readily raised their arms/ The arrest of Stephens, the first Chartist victim, for at- tending illegal meetings and using violent language, in- creased the excitement to an alarming extent. The masses were not satisfied with the mere possession of arms and sought practical advice on military operations. The widely circulated Defensive Instructions to the People by Colonel Macerone was supplemented by special articles on Military Science by Major Beniowski in The London Democrat. Extolling the " science of killing " as the most useful and the most sublime of all sciences, small bands of men were instructed how to resist the attacks of a more numerous enemy and how to render offensive operations most advan- tageous for strategical and tactical purposes.^ The military science is, simply, that which teaches you how to maim and kill as many of your enemies as possible, and also how to protect yourselves against a similar propensity of your opponents. If those who first reduced this " glorious " whole- sale murder to rules had no end in view but to gratify the beastly passions of the few, they were abominable monsters, whom it would have been the duty of every honest man to smother at their birth. But if their intention was the de- fence of the enslaved, oppressed, and starving millions, to curb ambition or to oppose the claims of incomprehensible rights, mankind ought to erect altars to their memory. In this last case, the science of killing and destroying is the most ' The Chartist Riots at Newport, November, 1839, 2d ed., Newport, 1881, p. IS. * The attitude of the Chartists towards war and armaments was practically identical both in spirit and expression with the ante bellum professions of the modern socialists. In view of the general interest in the present war, it was considered not amiss to reprint a character- istic dialogue between a moral force Whig and a Chartist, giving the "school-master's" view of the subject. See Appendix D. 1^2 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [152 useful and necessary of all the sciences ; it is, in fact, the only- one which, if universally known by the people at large, could prevent homicide at all. Unhappily this terribly sublime knowledge is not to be attained without difficulty. ... It is only by a continual, active, and concentrated application of an undivided mind, prompted by a peculiar natural disposition^ or inflamed by extraordinary events, that any man can attain it.^ The extraordinary events were in the process of realiza- tion. The talk of preparedness and resistance impelled the physical force advocates to attempt a wide agitation among the soldiers. The Chartists were urged to impart all in- formation about the movement to the men in the barracks and were assured that the soldiers were " on the right scent ", that they read O'Connor's Northern Star and that even the London Democrat " found its way into the army ". Discussing the question as to what the soldiers would do in the coming struggle, a correspondent of the physical force weekly ^ expressed his belief, which was based on personal observations, that they would not defend " the citadel of corruption " by cutting the throats of their fathers, their brothers, their mothers, their sisters and sweethearts, but, on the contrary, would " supply the places of the moral- force men " who would turn traitors to the cause. Whether or not the people shared this belief, the " extraordinary events " ran into a different channel. * The London Democrat, April 27, 1839. ' Ibid., May 4, 1839. CHAPTER X The Petition, the Convention and the Government The idea of a National Petition, as well as the plan of a General Convention of the Industrious Classes, originated with the Birmingham Political Union. Nothing can be farther from the truth than the " historical " assertion that the Petition and the Convention were undertaken in simu- lation of the tactics of the French Revolutionists. Both proposals emanated from the moral force group at the Bir- mingham demonstration of August 6, 1838, but once adopted they were made most use of by the preachers of revolt. The National Petition is credited to the pen of R. K. Douglas, the editor of the Birmingham Journal. It de- mands the enactment of but five points — that of equal rep- resentation having been omitted probably because it was confounded with universal suffrage. The petition is couched in terms far from revolutionary. It is lacking not only in vigor of expression, but also in definiteness of aim. The author apparently took extreme caution not to offend any class or any group of individuals. The influence of Thomas Attwood is seen throughout the petition, par- ticularly in the demand to abolish " the laws which make food dear, and those which, by making money scarce, make labor cheap ". Not a word is said about the New Poor Law or about factory legislation ; not a hint is given of the unjust distribution of wealth. On the contrary, repeated references are made to the burden imposed on the capitalist 153] 153 1^4 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [154 class, and the House is told " that the capital of the master must no longer be deprived of its due reward "/ The peti- tion complains against the load of taxes which affects capi- tal as well as labor, and alludes to other matters which, in previous petitions, were labeled by Bronterre as " uncon- sequential rubbish "." It would have been amazing to see the working class agitated by the Petition, had that agita- tion not been the expression of a much deeper cause. It was the idea of the Petition and not its contents that con- tained the promise of the holy land and that animated the people. It is on this account that the National Petition must be considered one of the most remarkable documents in the history of the English labor movement. The call for a national subscription for the petition received a generous response. Men and women devoted night after night to the collection of funds and signatures and submitted good- humoredly to every sort of reply to their solicitations. The contributions were necessary in order to defray the cost of the campaign and to support the members of the Conven- tion. The opening of the General Convention of the Indus- trious Classes took place on the 4th of February, 1839, at the British Coffee House, Cockspur Street, London. The subsequent sessions were held at the Hall of the Dr. John- son Tavern, Fleet Street. Of the fifty-three delegates rep- resenting various cities from all parts of the kingdom, three were magistrates, six newspaper editors, two clerg}^men. two physicians, while the others were shopkeepers, trades- men and laborers. The objects of the General Convention were declared to be as follows : I. To collect the signatures already appended to the National ' See Appendix C. ^ Cf. supra, p. 82. 155] P^'T^TION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 155 Petition in different parts of the Kingdom, and to use every possible exertion to cause it to be signed by every reformer in these realms. 2. To use the most efficient means and choose the most fit- ting time for introducing the National Petition into the Com- mons' House of Parliament. 3. To select such members of Parliament as the majority of the delegates may deem proper, for introducing the bill en- titled the People's Charter into both Houses of Parliament and enforcing its adoption. 4. To wait upon the members of the House of Commons (and, if necessary, upon Her Majesty and the Peers of these realms) and individually and collectively enforce upon them the claims of the industrious millions to their just share of political power and the necessity and justice for complying with their demands by supporting the National Petition and voting for the People's Charter. 5. To create and extend, by every constitutional means, an enlightened and powerful public opinion in favor of the above objects, and justly and righteously impress that opinion upon the legislature, as the best means of securing the prosperity and happiness of our country and averting those calamities which exclusive legislation and corrupt government will neces- sarily produce. Notwithstanding this peaceful declaration, the delegates repeatedly proclaimed the Convention the only representa- tive and legally elected body, assumed functions of a legis- lative body, and adopted a set of rules and regulations, in- cluding those relating to future elections of delegates and the duties of the constituencies. The presentation of the National Petition was postponed until the 6th of May, in order to procure a larger number of signatures. Mission- aries were sent out to various towns to agitate for the Charter and to collect signatures to the Petition. In the interim, the delegates in London busied themselves with a 1^6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [156 variety of problems. The " grievances of Ireland ", " the suffering in the manufacturing districts ", " the factory- system ", " the New Rural Police Bill ", were but a few of the subjects that gave rise to long and heated discussions. " In fact," Lovett confesses, " the love of talk was as characteristic of our little house as the big one at West- minster." ^ Of more immediate interest was the question of " ulterior measures " to be adopted if the petition were rejected on the 6th of May. Care was taken that the dis- cussions and proceedings of the Convention be reported in a way to excite the passions of the masses. The addresses of the delegates dwelling at length on the distress and mis- ery of the people were printed and distributed broadcast among the industrial and agricultural wage-earners. The speech of delegate Richard Marsden of Preston attracted particular attention because it was not an elaborated state- ment of a social investigator or an embellished picture of a professional agitator. It was the cry of actual despair that pierced the hearts of all who heard or read his narra- tive. As an illustration of the effects of the factory sys- tem, Marsden presented the case of his own wife and chil- dren who were entirely destitute of the bare necessities of life. With an infant at her breast, his wife was so ema- ciated in consequence of lack of nourishment that when the baby tried to nurse, it drew the mother's blood.^ The division in the ranks of the Chartist delegates was evident from the beginning. The first collision between the moral force adherents and the followers of the Marat policy took place at the very opening of the Convention. At the first few sessions the London Working Men's Associa- tion had the upper hand. Lovett was elected secretary in ' Lovett, op, cit., p. 204. * This statement was subsequently confirmed to Gammage by Mrs. Marsden. See Gammage, op. cit., p. 108. ^57] PETITION, CONVENTION AN.D GOVERNMENT 157 Spite of the strong opposition on the part of the physical force advocates. The missionaries who were sent out of the Metropohs to obtain signatures to the National Peti- tion were instructed " to refrain from all violent and un- constitutional language and not to infringe the law in any manner by word or deed." The spirit of enthusiasm that pervaded the Convention did not last long, however. Some delegates soon tired of formal speeches and grew impatient with the counselors of a policy of peaceful waiting. In allegiance to the London Democratic Association, they created discord within and without the Convention assem- bly. Harney was most emphatic in his condemnation of the cowardice and imbecility of the Convention and urged the people to prepare for the approaching struggle. At Smithfield he appeared at an open-air meeting wearing a red cap of liberty in imitation of the French Revolution- ists. The London Democratic Association, of which he was secretary, adopted three resolutions : 1. That if the Convention did its duty, the Charter would he the law of the land in less than a month. 2. That no delay should take place in the presentation of the National Petition. 3. That every act of injustice and oppression should be immediately met by resistance. These resolutions were submitted to the Convention on the 4th of March and caused several motions to be made condemnatory of the conduct of the extreme Chartists. One delegate censured Harney for making use of French revolutionary' expressions and French emblems. Another demanded an apology from Harney and his followers, on penalty of expulsion, for addressing the resolutions to the Convention. Even Bronterre recorded his opinion that the Convention must be on guard not to prejudice the govern- 1^8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [158 ment against the Petition, while Lovett's close friends, Hetherington, Cleave, and others, protested against the use of all emblems which might compromise the Convention and thus injure the cause. In the language of Lovett, Harney and two other delegates *' deemed it advisable to make the apology required." ^ It was, however, after a lapse of but a few days that the censured agitators suc- ceeded in establishing their supremacy. On the nth of March, 1839, Harney, O'Connor, Frost, Bronterre, and others addressed a crowded meeting which was called under the auspices of the Convention, at the Crown and Anchor, and at which they publicly attacked the inactivity of the Convention and exhorted the Chartists to arm themselves for the approaching crisis. Bronterre declared that the only reason he did not advise the people to arm themselves was because the law did not let him. He was only a his- torian, he said, and merely reported the " fact " that all the people of Leeds and of Lancashire had procured arms. While he could not urge his hearers to do likewise, he was certain that the Petition would be helped along, if all the people of England followed the example of his friends in the North. He accordingly appealed to them to organize, to put themselves in such a position of defense that if an attempt were made to suspend the laws and the constitu- tion of the country, they should be able to send the traitors to eternity. The enthusiastic cheers of the audience at every allusion to physical force left no doubt that the metropolitan workingmen endorsed the sentiments of the speakers. The speeches stirred up a great deal of hostile criticism in the press which provoked three Birmingham delegates to tender their resignations " because the Convention was ' Lovett, op. cit., p. 204. I-g] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 159 not guided by principles of peace, law and order." This act on the part of the moral force delegates branded them in the eyes of the people as traitors and gave a new impetus to the physical force agitation. It was then that the Lon- don Democrat was established to launch a systematic cam- paign for preparedness and to preach insurrection as the only means for the people to obtain the Charter. All legal and constitutional efforts inspired little hope for the imme- diate success of the National Petition, and the workingmen were urged to lose no time in organizing and preparing themselves for the coming struggle, " such as the world has not yet witnessed." The Chartists were advised to inscribe on their banners the mottoes : " Liberty or death ", " the People's Charter and no further delay ", " the Peo- ple's Charter — peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must ", and the people were reminded that their tyrants would never concede justice till they were compelled, till they were overcome by fire and sword and exterminated from the face of the earth. The Chartists foresaw the possibility of a prorogation of Parliament before the presentation of the Petition on the 6th of May, or before the House could be tested respecting the Charter. In case of such a contingency, Harney supported Bronterre's recommendation that, on the day appointed by the Queen's proclamation for a new election, the people of each county, city and borough should assemble at the proper places and nominate men pledged to the Charter. He was certain that the universal suffrage candidates would be elected in nineteen out of every twenty cases. He realized that the election of repre- sentatives without enabling them to take their seats in the House of Commons would present " the veriest farce im- aginable ". It was, therefore, necessary that each elected j6o the chartist movement [i6o representative should be furnished with a bodyguard of sturdy sans-culottes : By the time the whole of the representatives arrived in the environs of the metropolis, they would have with them not less than a million of men. This would soon settle the matter. " The million of men," with their representatives, would en- camp for one night on Hampstead-heath, and the following morning march upon London, where myriads would hail with songs of joy their march through Parliament, safely conduct- ing their representatives past the Horse-guards, should the shopocratic-elected scoundrels be fools enough to have pre- viously seated themselves in the tax-trap. The voice of the people crying, " Make way for better men," would scatter them like chaff before the wind ; or, should they hesitate to fly, the job will soon be settled by their being tied neck and heels and flung into the Thames. As to resistance on the part of the soldiery, the idea is not to be entertained. What army could withstand a million of armed men? For, of course, every man would come prepared for the worst ; and even should the tyrants be mad enough to provoke a conflict, can the result be doubtful? No; within a week not a despot's breath would pollute the air of England.^ The missionaries did not carry out the instructions of the Convention to refrain from all violent language. Vin- cent especially exhorted the people to be prepared to resist the government. At several meetings in Welsh towns, he called upon the working class to be ready to act after the 6th of May, and that every hill and valley should be pre- pared to send forth its army, if required by the Conven- tion. At Newport he concluded his speech with the invo- cation : " To your tents, O Israel ! and then with one voice, one heart, and one blow, perish the privileged orders! Death to the aristocracy! " In Pentonville he attacked the ' The London Democrat, April 27, 1839. l6i] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT i6i government as an atrocious and cannibal system : it doomed men, women and children to toil in factories from morning till night in a state approaching starvation, for the purpose of increasing the wealth of the aristocracy/ Far from rebuking its missionaries, the Convention acted in harmony with the prevailing spirit of the masses and, after a long discussion, adopted a resolution to the effect " that it was admitted by the highest authorities, be- yond the possibility of doubt, that the people had the right to use arms."^ In the meantime the government kept a vigilant eye on the movements of the members of the Convention and the active Chartists. Venomous newspaper reports of the Chartist meetings provoked the government to introduce a wide system of espionage. The spies simulated great de- votion to the cause and instigated the masses to " speak out " and to " prove to the government that the people were in earnest." Zealous to produce proof to the government of their usefulness and of their alertness to " discover " all Chartist plots, they adopted a favorite scheme of teach- ing the credulous workingmen how to destroy property and strike terror into the hearts of the " despots ". One of these provocateurs, Holyoake writes, produced an explosive liquid which, he said, could be poured into the sewers and, when ignited, would blow up the whole city of London. " This satanic preparation was tried in a cellar in Judd Street, while I was taking tea in the back parlor above. I did not know at the time of the operation going on below, or it might have interfered with my satisfaction in the repast on which I was engaged."' ' Cf. The Chartist Riots at Newport, 2nd ed., Newport, 1889, pp. 15- 16; also The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, London, 1840, p. 25. * Lovett, op. cit., p. 203. ' Holyoake, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 4. l62 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [162 The activities of magistrate John Frost, the Welsh dele- gate to the Convention, caused much public discussion, and Lord John Russell was taunted from many quarters for the appointment he had made. Russell then sent Frost a letter inquiring whether he was a delegate to the Conven- tion, as well as whether he had attended a public meeting at Pontypool, at which inflammatory language was used, and notifying him that such actions, if true, must cause his name to be erased from the Commission of the Peace for the county of Monmouth. The answer which Frost sent to Russell gained him unanimous praise from his col- leagues who paid him due tribute at a dinner given in his honor in London. His letter, dated at Newport, January 19, 1839, contained a spirited rebuke of the Secretary of State. Its haughty defiance was characteristic of the period of unrest. He writes : ^ In your Lordship's letter of the i6th, there is a mistake. I am not a magistrate for the county of Monmouth, but for the borough of Newport, in the county of Monmouth. In the spring of 1835 the council of the borough recommended me as a proper person to be a justice of the peace. I was appointed, and I believe that the inhabitants will bear honorable testimony as to the manner in which I have performed the duties of that office. Whether your Lordship will retain my name, or cause it to be erased, is to me a matter of perfect indifference, for I set no value on an office dependant for its continuance, not according to the mode in which its duties are performed, but on the will of a Secretary of State. For what does your Lordship think it incumbent to get my name erased from the commission of the peace? For attend- ing a meeting at Pontypool, on the ist of January? If the public papers can be credited, your Lordship declared that * See Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmoutlishire, London, 1840, pp. 11-13. 163] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 163 such meetings were not only legal but commendable. But " violent and inflammatory language was used at that meet- ing." . . . There Avas a time when the Whig Ministry was not so fastidious as to violent and inflammatory language uttered at public meetings. By what authority does your Lordship assume a power over conduct of mine unconnected with my office? By what author- ity does your Lordship assign any action of mine, as a private individual, as a justification for erasing my name from the commission of the peace? Am I to hold no opinion of my own, in respect to public matters ? Am I to be prohibited from expressing that opinion, if it be unpleasing to Lord J. Russell? If, in expressing that opinion, I act in strict conformity to the law, can it be an offence? If I transgress, is not the law sufficiently stringent to punish me ? It appears from the letter of your Lordship that I, if present at a public meeting, should be answerable for language uttered by others. If these are to be the terms on which Her Majesty's commission of the peace are to be holden, take it back again, for surely none but the most servile of men would hold it on such terms. Is it an offence to be appointed a delegate to convey to the constituted authorities the petitions of the people? ... I was appointed a justice of the peace to administer the laws within the borough of Newport. Was the appointment made, that the inhabitants might benefit by the proper exercise of the authority intrusted to me? Or was it made to be recalled at the will of your Lordship, although the inhabitants might be perfectly satisfied with the performance of the duty? Your Lordship receives a very large sum of money for holding the office of Secretary of State, paid, in part, out of the taxes raised on the inhabitants of the borough. Does your Lordship owe them no duty? For what is your Lordship invested with authority? To be exercised merely at the caprice of your Lordship, regardless of the effects that may follow ? I have served the inhabitants for three years, zealously and gra- tuitously, and the opinions which I have formed as to the exercise of public authority, teach me that they, and not your 164 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [164 Lordship, ought to decide whether I ought to be struck off the commission of peace. Fining an humble situation in Hfe, I would yield neither to your Lordship, nor any of your order, in a desire to see my country powerful and prosperous. Twenty years' reading and experience have convinced me that the only method to produce and secure that state of things is a restoration of the ancient constitution. Deeply impressed with this conviction, I have labored to obtain the end, by means recognized by the laws of my country — petition ; and for this your Lordship thinks I ought to be stricken off the commission of the peace ! Violent and inflammatory language indeed ! I am convinced that in my own neighborhood, my attending at public meetings has tended to restrain violent language. . . . Probably your Lordship is unaccustomed to language of this description ; that, my Lord, is a misfortune. Much of evils of life proceed from the want of sincerity in those who hold converse with men in authority. Simple men like those best who prophesy smooth things. . . . The Chartists rejoiced at the humiliation which Lord Russell received at the hands of one of their leaders. For several months they had brooded over their resentment against the Secretary of State, not so much on account of his suppression of torch-light meetings as on account of his offer of arms to any association of the middle class that would be formed ostensibly for the protection of life and property, but in reality for putting down Chartist assem- blies. The policy of Russell, however, was rather vacil- lating. The meeting of March 1 1 th at the Crown and Anchor, at which Frost was in the chair, was the landmark for both the terrorists and the government. The systematic campaign of the press against the principles of the Charter as tending to robbery and destruction of society was turned with effective force against the representatives of the gov- ernment who were charged with being, in their cowardice, 165] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 165 abettors of sedition. This made Lord Russell cast aside the painful attitude of strained indulgence, on the one hand, and masqued oppression, on the other. A state of open hostility now established itself between the govern- ment and the Chartists. The authorities left no doubt as to their determination to handle the situation in a disciplin- ary way. Russell's order, about the end of March, to strike the name of Frost from the Commission of Peace for at- tending Chartist meetings, was followed, in April, by the indictment of Stephens and the declaration that the Con- vention was an illegal body, and, in May, by the arrest in London of Vincent who was conveyed to Newport and, together with several other Chartists, committed to Mon- mouth gaol. The Mayor of Newport had collected evi- dence against the young orator and his followers in the hope that, if a conviction took place, Chartism in Mon- mouthshire " would be reckoned among the things that were." ^ The strength of the movement was, however, greatly underestimated. Far from being dismayed, the Chartists challenged their adversaries on more than one occasion. On the 6th of May, 1839, the National Petition, con- taining about one million two hundred and eighty-three thousand signatures, was taken to the residence of Thomas Attwood, who had promised to present it to Parliament. By that time, however, Attwood's allegiance to the Char- tist cause underwent a marked change. It may have been due to the aggressive policy of the Convention or to the fact that at all times the issue of paper money was more important to him than the People's Charter. Be it as it may, he gave little encouragement to the delegation, ex- pressing his doubt whether, on account of the expected ^ Cf. Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, 1840, p. 18. l66 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [i66 resignation of Lord Russell from the ministry, he would be able to present the Petition in the near future and re- fusing to move for leave to bring in a bill entitled the Peo- ple's Charter. This circumstance, as well as the enmity of the govern- ment, made the leaders realize that the Charter would not " be the law of the land in less than a month." The Con- vention carried O'Connor's motion to adjourn to Birming- ham, where the surroundings were thought more favorable because of the general excitement which prevailed both on account of the conduct of the local authorities in suppress- ing public meetings and of Lord Russell's letter to the magistrates offering arms to the middle class. On the 13th of May the Convention was welcomed in that city by a vast assemblage and resumed its sessions in a buoyant spirit. On the following day, after some discussion, the Manifesto of the General Convention of the Industrious Classes was adopted, and ten thousand copies were ordered to be printed for circulation. The language and the object of the Manifesto render it the most remarkable Chartist document. There is no sign of the previous overtures to the middle class, and due respect is paid to the " menaces of employers " and the " power of wealth ". The distinct class interests of the working men and women are put in the foreground. Be- ginning with the declaration that " the government of Eng- land is a despotism and her industrious millions slaves " : that her forms of " justice " are subterfuges for legal plunder and class domination; that the " right of the sub- ject " is slavery, without the slave's privilege, and that the Whigs and the Tories are united in their despotic deter- mination to maintain their power and supremacy at any risk, the Manifesto continues : 167] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 167 Men and women of Britain, will you tamely submit to the insult? Will you submit to the incessant toil from birth to death, to give in tax and plunder out of every tzvelve hours' labor the proceeds of nine hours to support your idle and in- solent oppressors? Will you much longer submit to see the greatest blessings of mechanical art converted into the greatest curses of social life? — to see children forced to compete with their parents, wives with their husbands, and the whole of society morally and physically degraded to support the aris- tocracies of wealth and title? Will you allow your wives and daughters to be degraded; your children to be nursed in misery, stultified by toil, and to become the victims of the vice our corrupt institutions have engendered? Will you permit the stroke of affliction, the misfortunes of poverty, and the in- firmities of age to be branded and punished as crimes, and give our selfish oppressors an excuse for rending asunder man and wife, parent and child, and continue passive observers till you and yours become the victims? Perish the cowardly feeling; and infamous be the passive being who can witness his country's degradation, without a struggle to prevent or a determination to remove it ! Rather, like Sampson, would we cling to the pillars which sustain our social fabric, and, failing to base it upon principles of justice, fall victims beneath its ruins. Shall it be said, fellow-country- men, that four millions of men, capable of bearing arms and defending their country against every foreign assailant, allowed a few domestic oppressors to enslave and degrade them ? That they suffered the constitutional right of possessing arms, to defend the constitutional privileges their ancestors bequeathed to them, to be disregarded or forgotten till one after another they have been robbed of their rights, and have submitted to be awed into silence by the bludgeons of policemen ? . . . Men of England, Scotland, and Wales, we have sworn with your aid to achieve our liberties or die ! And in this resolve we seek to save our country from a fate we do not desire to witness. If you longer continue passive slaves, the fate of unhappy Ireland will soon be yours, and that of Ireland more l68 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [i68 degraded still. For, be assured, the joyful hope of freedom which now inspires the millions, if not speedily realized, will turn into wild revenge. The sickening thought of unrequited toil — their cheerless homes — ^their stunted, starving offspring — the pallid partners of their wretchedness — their aged parents pining apart in a workhouse — the state of trade presenting to their imaginations no brighter prospect — these, together with the petty tyranny that daily torments them, will exasperate them to destroy what they are denied the enjoyment of. . . . Both Whigs and Tories are seeking, by every means in their power, to crush our peaceful organization in favor of our Qiarter. They are sending their miscreant spies to urge the people into madness; they are arming the rich against the poor, and against his fellow-man. . . , We trust, brethren, that you will disappoint their malignity, and live to regain our rights by other means, — at least, we trust you will not com- mence the conflict. We have resolved to obtain our rights, " peaceably if we may, forcibly if we must " ; but woe to those who begin the warfare with the millions, or who forcibly re- strain their peaceful agitation for justice — at one signal they will be enlightened to their error, and in one brief contest their power will be destroyed. . . . The Chartists were called upon to organize simultaneous public meetings for the purpose of petitioning the Queen " to call good men to her councils ", and, in order to ascer- tain " the opinions and determination of the people in the shortest possible time ", a series of questions, or " ulterior measures ", was to be submitted at each meeting. Remind- ing the Chartists that the motto of the Convention was Union, Prudence and Energy, and assuring them that after ascertaining the expression of organized public opinion that body will immediately proceed to carry the will of the people into execution, the time for the simultaneous meet- ings was limited to the ist of July. The " ulterior measures " proposed by the Manifesto and 169] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 169 subsequently submitted to the consideration of the simul- taneous assembHes were as follows : 1 . Whether they will be prepared, at the request of the Con- vention, to withdraw all sums of money they may individually or collectively have placed in savings' banks, private banks, or in the hands of any person hostile to their just rights ? 2. Whether, at the same request, they will be prepared im- mediately to convert all their paper money into gold and silver? 3. Whether, if the Convention shall determine that a sacred month will be necessary to prepare the millions to secure the charter of their political salvation, they will firmly resolve to abstain from their labors during that period, as well as from the use of all intoxicating drinks? 4. Whether, according to their old constitutional right — a right which modern legislation would fain annihilate — they have prepared themselves zinth the arms of freemen to defe^td the lazvs and constitutional privileges their ancestors bequeathed to them? 5. Whether they will provide themselves with Chartist ca7u- didates, so as to be prepared to propose them for their repre- sentatives at the next general election ; and if returned by show of hands such candidates to consider themselves veritable rep- resentatives of the people — to meet in London at a time here- after to be determined on ? 6. Whether they will resolve to deal exclusively with Char- tists, and in all cases of persecution rally around and protect all those who may suffer in their righteous cause ? 7. Whether by all and every means in their power they will perseveringly contend for the great objects of the People's Charter, and resolve that no counter agitation for a less meas- ure of justice shall divert them from their righteous object? 8. Whether the people will determine to obey all the just and constitutional requests of the majority of the Convention? The " ulterior measures " did not satisfy all the mem- bers of the Convention. They were concocted as a compro- lyQ THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [170 mise program by the various factions. One can easily dis- cern the influence of Attwood's followers in the first three " measures ". The abstinence proposal was denounced by Harney and his friends as savoring of humbug, believing as they did that nothing but the extremest measures would be of any value. The radicals carried their recommenda- tions to ascertain whether the people were ready to resist the authorities and to take matters in their hands, to elect and seat their own candidates,^ to boycott opponents by dealing exclusively with Chartists, and to protect all who may suffer in the cause. Lovett, who, as secretary of the Convention, signed the Manifesto,^ confesses that he " did an act of folly in being a party to some of its provisions " , but extenuates this " folly ", as it was committed for the sake of union and for the love and hope he had in the cause. ^ While the Manifesto counseled not to '* commence the conflict " , the London Democrat was untiring in its cam- paign for insurrection as a " primary measure ". Terror was advocated as the only means by which the " aristocratic and shopocratic factions " could be induced to do justice to the people. The idea of a " bloodless triumph " was dis- pensed with as mere " chatter and nonsense ", as the " ven- geance of blood is the only means of striking terror to the hearts of tyrants, especially the relentless tyrants of Eng- land — the callous-hearted money-mongers." It won't be the organised masses that will carry the victory. Oh, no! That depends upon the poor, outcast, friendless beings who have no home to go to, no food to satisfy the ^ Cf. supra, p. 159. * The Manifesto was signed on behalf of the Convention by Hugh Craig, Chairman, and Wilham Lovett, Secretary. ' Cf. Lovett, op. cit., pp. 208-9. 17 1 ] PETITION. CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT lyi cravings of hunger, no coverin,g to keep them warm, or even to make them look decent, no wherewithal to render their lives worth preserving. The battle . . . will be fought and won by those whom poverty and degradation have rendered outcasts from society — ^by those who hide themselves from the gaze of the world, through the cruel operation of unjust and partially-executed laws. The battle will be fought and won by the brigands, as they are called. As for premature out- breaks, indeed, a great deal of stuff and nonsense has been rung in the ears of the people concerning popular commotions. Is the present movement a real onef If it is, then too many outbreaks cannot take place. Premature outbreaks, as they are called, are only fatal to sham movements; but, at a time like this, the more the better. . . . What are outbreaks ? Are they not ebullitions of popular feeHng? Then if numerous outbreaks take place, does it not prove that the people are ready ? Then, hurrah for a leader ! Hurrah for the man who has the energy and courage to unfurl the banner of freedom and lead the people on to victory or death. . . . Government looks upon all parties in the Chartist ranks alike. Neither party can find favor in the eyes of exclusive legislators. Sham radicals, timid radicals, trading radicals, as well as honest and determined democrats, will all ahke be persecuted and crushed if " the step " be not now taken — • if the blow be not now struck. . . . We are all embarked in the same vessel, and a shipwreck would be as fatal to the one party as the other. Let honest men then unite, and the victory is safe, sure and speedy.^ The relations of mutual distrust between the government and the Chartists became ever more pronounced. Alarmed at the enthusiastic reception which the Birmingham peo- ple accorded the Convention, the government complied with the request of the local authorities and sent a number of ^ The London Democrat, May i8, 1839. Cf. also issues of May 25, et seq. YJ2. THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [172 the London police force to that city. This, in its turn, created ill-feeHng in the assembly, and it was due primarily to the timely warnings of O'Connor and Bronterre not to carry arms to the meetings that the " People's Parliament " was saved from police intervention. On the 17th of May the Convention adjourned to the 1st of July after having passed Bronterre's resolutions : ist, That peace, law, and order shall continue to be the motto of the Convention, so long as the " oppressors " will act in the same spirit towards the people; otherwise, it shall be deemed a sacred duty of the people " to meet force with force and repel assassination by justifiable homicide " ; 2nd, That the Chartists who may attend the simultaneous meet- ings shall avoid carrying offensive weapons about their per- sons and treat as enemies of the cause any person who may exhibit such weapons, or who " by any other act of folly or wickedness, should provoke a breach of the peace " ; 3rd, That the officers who may have charge of the arrange- ments for the simultaneous meetings shall in all cases con- sult with the local authorities; and 4th. That should the authorities be instigated by the " oppressors in the upper and middle ranks " to assail the people with armed force, the " oppressors " would be held responsible, " in person and property, for any detriment that may result to the people from such atrocious instigation ". The simultaneous meetings were held in a great number of cities, towns, and villages with distinct success. Conser- vative estimates of the assemblies at some places were in the hundreds of thousands. Thus the demonstration at Kersall Moor was reported to have been made up of not less than three hundred thousand; at West Riding of two hundred thousand ; at Glasgow of one hundred and thirty thousand, and at Newcastle-on-Tyne of one hundred thou- sand persons. The meetings were addressed by members 173] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 173 of the Convention, including O'Connor, Bronterre, Har- ney, Frost, and other Chartist celebrities. In several in- stances the demonstrations were held in defiance of the authorities, who not only refused the requests of the ar- rangement committees to convene the meetings, but caused proclamations to be posted warning the people against at- tending illegal gatherings. Everything went off peace- ably, although the speakers were by no means timid in the expression of their sentiments. At the West Riding demon- stration, O'Connor declared that if the "tyrants" attempted to put down the meeting by force, the people should repel attack by attack. Bronterre did not mince words at any of the meetings, always impressing the people with the neces- sity of being prepared to do something effective for uni- versal suffrage. He upbraided the people for supporting " the whole tribe of landholders, fundholders, and two millions of menials and kept mistresses, together with one hundred thousand prostitutes in London alone ". The speeches by the other agitators were in similar vein. The Convention reassembled at Birmingham on the ist of July and immediately took up the question of adjourn- ing to London, as the Birmingham authorities were evi- dently determined to interfere with its business, having sworn in three hundred special constables that very day. Another reason for the removal was the alleged precarious condition of the Bank of England, which made it strategi- cally advisable for the Convention to be in close touch with the situation in order to avail itself of the embarrass- ment on the part of the government. On the next day, after a long discussion, it was agreed that the sessions be removed to London on the loth of that month. The reports of the delegates on the results of the simul- taneous meetings showed that, notwithstanding the popular enthusiasm for the Charter, the " ulterior measures " were 174 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [174 not approved en bloc by the people. The " sacred month " proposition met with decided opposition in all parts of the country. There seemed to be diversity of opinion on this question even among the leaders. In spite of that, how- ever, unanimous resolutions were adopted approving ex- clusive dealing with Chartists, a run on the banks, absolute abstinence from excisable drinks, and, in view of the ex- pected division on the National Petition which was to take place in Parliament on the 12th of July, it was decided that the members of the Convention meet on the 13th, " for the purpose of appointing a day when the sacred month shall commence, if the Charter has not previously become the law of the land ". CHAPTER XI The Wrestling Forces Though tyrants and minions reject our prayer. And sneer at the evils we patiently bear, And laugh us to scorn when we humbly ask, — How soon they may have another task! At last a smothered fire forth may break, And a nation in knowledge of freedom awake. — Alfred Owen Fennell. The simultaneous meetings and the subsequent adoption by the Convention of the " ulterior measures " were fol- lowed by a new series of events, in which both the Chartists and the government displayed a mood to fight to the bitter end, and which culminated in temporary victory for the latter. The first serious encounter between the people and the authorities took place on the 4th of July, 1839, at Birming- ham. Since the days of the agitation for the Reform Bill, the people had been accustomed to assemble in vast multi- tudes in the Bull Ring, where they not only aired their grievances but also listened to the reading of newspapers and discussed political events. The simultaneous meetings struck terror to the hearts of the middle class, and the mayor undertook to restrain the masses from holding public meetings in the city, and particularly in the popular Ring. The resentment of the workingmen against this infringe- ment upon their rights was on a par with their hostility towards the newly-introduced metropolitan police. Never- theless, no open conflict occurred until the mayor attempted to enforce his proclamation. On the evening stated, a squad 175] 175 176 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [lyS of the metropolitan police, headed by the mayor and a magistrate and supported by several detachments of dra- goons, invaded the Ring where an assembly of workingmen listened to the reading of a newspaper, and, without any provocation on the part of the people, commenced an indis- criminate attack. In the confusion, men, women, and chil- dren were thrown down and trampled upon, the police belaboring them right and left. One man had his teeth knocked out, and several were carried away with broken heads and arms and other severe injuries. After the first moments of panic, the people rallied their strength and compelled the police to flee. But the latter soon returned, reinforced, and renewed the attack. The mayor then read the Riot Act, ordered the dragoons to disperse the crowds, and placed military guards at all the avenues leading to the Bull Ring in order to prevent any new gathering there. The fight lasted from nine to half -past ten in the evening. About midnight the dispersed crowds gathered again, sing- ing the Chartist anthem, " Fall, Tyrants, Fall," and amidst deafening cheers proceeded for Holloway Head, in the out- skirts of the city, where they swore vengeance against the assailants. They then marched to St. Thomas's Church, where they tore down about seventy feet of railing and turned it into weapons. A rush to the scene of the con- flict, which might have proven fatal to many, was averted by two popular members of the Convention, Dr. Taylor and McDouall, who induced the incensed people to throw down their improvised arms. A spirit of terror and vengeance pervaded the city, the fury of the people clashing with the severity of the author- ities. About six o'clock the following morning. Dr. Tay- lor, together with ten other Chartists, was committed to Warwick jail. It goes without saying that the " People's Parliament " deemed it its duty to express indignation over 177] ^^^ WRESTLING FORCES 1 77 the conduct of the authorities, and the following resolu- tions were adopted and ordered to be placarded on the walls of the city : ^ 1. That this Convention is of opinion that a wanton, flagrant, and unjust outrage has been made upon the people of Birmingham, by a blood-thirsty and unconstitutional force from London, acting under the authority of men, who, when out of office, sanctioned and took part in the meetings of the people; and now, when they share in the public plunder, seek to keep the people in social and political degradation. 2. That the people of Birmingham are the best judges of their own right to meet in the Bull Ring or elsewhere; have their own feelings to consult respecting outrage given, and are the best judges of their own power and resources to obtain justice. 3. That the summary and despotic arrest of Dr. Taylor, our respected colleague, affords another convincing proof of all absence of justice in England, and clearly shows that there is no security for lives, liberty, or property, till the people have some control over the laws they are called upon to obey. No sooner had the resolutions been posted about the town than the printer was arrested. He was, however, liberated immediately after naming John Collins, a Birmingham local preacher and a member of the Convention, as the person who had ordered the printing. Lovett, who, as secretary, had signed the resolutions, and Collins were speedily arrested and brought up for examination. Both refused to incriminate any other person and were committed for trial at the next assizes. Pending the production of un- usually high bail of £1000 each, they were kept for nine days in the county jail of Warwick, the magistrates rais- 1 See The Trial of William Lovett for a Seditious Libel, London, 2d edition. Cf. also Hansard, op. cit., vol. xlix, 1839, pp. 109-10, and pp. 375-6. 178 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [178 ing every possible objection to the bail offered, and were subjected to the discipline and indignities of convicted felons. ^ The ire of the masses was intensified by the proclamation of martial law and the conduct of the police, who paraded the streets and dealt brutally with ever^' person that aroused their suspicion. Far from intimidating the workingmen, the wholesale arrests provoked utmost defiance. Instigated by advocates of physical force,^ large crowds met daily at Holloway Head and other places, serious collisions with the police and military forces resulting. The desultory fights continued for a whole week, and culminated in the second Bull Ring riot on the 15th of July. A number of houses belonging to men who had made themselves obnox- ious to the masses were set afire. In their fury, the people entered shops, carried the goods to the Bull Ring, and com- mitted them to the devouring flames- The police and the military were utterly helpless. But not for a minute did the rioters forget the real object of their revolt. Amid all these desperate proceedings, — Gammage testifies, — the people exhibited a disinterestedness worthy of all imita- tion. Not even the most costly goods for a moment tempted their cupidity. They even trod under foot the splendid silver plate of Mr. Horton, proving that, however great their pro- vocation, plunder was not their object. They were at war with the ruling classes, but they scorned to avail themselves of the common privileges of warriors. That they had become desperate was not their fault ; their vices belonged to their ^ Referring to these indignities, Lord Brougham stated and reiterated in the House of Lords that the facts were verified " by a most re- spectable individual, whose cross-examination he would trust as much as that of any man not connected with the legal profession." See Han- sard, op. cit., vol. xlix, pp. 438-9 and 984-5. 2 Holyoake writes that he saw Harney "daily in the riot-week stand- ing at the door openly." See Holyoake, op. cit., vol. i, p. 85. 179] ^^^ WRESTLING FORCES lyg oppressors, their virtues were their own. Meetings continued to be held, to which the people flocked in crowds. The process of trade was stopped, and a large number of gentry fled the town ; even the valiant mayor was terrified into flight.^ The conduct of the metropolitan police and the conse- quent riots in Birmingham were the objects of parliamen- tary enquiries in both Houses,^ in which the government was severely criticized. The physical-force agitators also did their best to kindle the passions of the people. Public meetings were held in a large number of cities, and hundreds of resolutions were adopted and printed in the Chartist papers, charging the authorities with high treason to the Constitution. The Northampton resolution threatened the Whig government that it would " be held responsible for the consequences, even if the suffering people . . . should leave at midnight their miserable homes in a blaze, and the destructive element communicating with everything around, reduce to one common ruin and desolation the mansions of the rich and the hovels of the poor." ' In the meantime, amidst these disquieting circumstances, the Parliamentary battle for the National Petition was lost by Attwood and his supporters.* On the 12th of July, Att- wood brought forward his motion that the House resolve itself into a committee for considering the prayer of the National Petition which he had presented on the 14th of June. The anticipation of pungent discussion attracted large crowds. According to Disraeli, " the Tories, suppos- ing Chartism would be only a squabble between the Whigs and Radicals, were all away, while the ministerial benches * Gammage, op. cit., p. 135. * See Hansard, op. cit., vol. xlix, pp. 109-111, 410-41 1 and 441-442. ^ Gammage, op. cit., p. 138. '• See Hansard, op. cit., vol. xlix, pp. 220-256. l8o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [i8o were crowded — all the ministers, all the Whigs, and all the Radicals " in their seats. ^ True to himself, Attwood expounded the Petition from the point of view not only of the working class, but also of the merchants, manufacturers, tradesmen and farmers. He based his appeal on ancient practice of common justice and humanity, as well as actual grounds of utility. Alluding to the petitioners as the elite of the working class, he cautioned the House, however, not to treat the prayer as representing the sentiments merely of that class, for he was certain that the feelings of nine out of ever)" ten j>ersons of the middle class were in full accord with the objects of the Petition. There was, no doubt, " some property " left in England, but, generally speaking, the merchant and the manufacturer, being on the brink of bankruptcy, were not less discontented than the laborers. The people were desirous of a change, and nothing would satisfy them but some large and gen- erous measure. This measure was proposed in the People's Charter. He had always deprecated violence, but he con- sidered it his duty to tell the House that " if the hands of the people were not to be set free from their trammels, if they were not to have the benefit of earning their bread by the sweat of their brow, and hundreds of thousands were compelled to beg for labor and then to be denied bread, — it was his rooted conviction that the people of England would not submit to it and that there was no army in the world capable of putting them down." The philanthropic but characterless speech of Attwood made the reply of his principal opponent. Lord Russell, ap- I>ear far more convincing. As the Lord viewed the matter, the whole movement had been promoted by persons who had been going through the countr}^ and, in the most revo- ^ See Lord BeaconsHeld's Correspondence with his Sister, 1832-1852, edited by Ralph Disraeli, 2d edition, 1886, p. 132. l8i] THE WRESTLING FORCES l8i lutionary language, " not exceeded in violence and atrocity in the worst times of the French Revolution," exhorted the people to subvert the laws by force of arms. Having scored on this point of fact which no one could deny, but offering no explanation for the generous welcome which the people had accorded those agitators, he proceeded to de- molish the fundamental principle of the Charter. He scorned the idea that universal suffrage or any legal pro- vision relating to representation would establish general welfare " in a country depending very much upon com- merce and manufactures " and prevent that state of low wages and consequent distress which occur in every com- munity of that kind. Even the United States, where the people enjoyed universal suffrage, had not been altogether free from alternate fluctuations from prosperity to distress, notwithstanding the immense tracts of wild fertile land in. which the population that could not subsist in towns might easily find refuge and a mode of living. He denied that the Petition which had only about one million two hundred thousand signatures was a national petition and that it rep- resented the sentiments and opinions of a majority of the people. On the contrary, the great majority of the nation, including the working class, would be alarmed at the pros- pect of having the principles of the Charter enacted into law. He further referred to the increase of small deposits in savings' banks as proving the absolute want of truth in the statement of the Petition that the home of the arti- ficer was desolate and the manufactory deserted. He did not deny that there were many industrious and sober workingmen whose means were exceedingly scanty and whose situation could not be looked upon without com- miseration. But he was utterly relentless in showing up the " complete delusion " of those who believed that the adoption of universal suffrage would place the laborers in l82 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [182 a state of prosperity. Referring to Attwood's pet theory that the alteration in the standard of value and an increase in the quantity of paper money would assure general pros- perity, the speaker did not fail to point out, not without ill-concealed sarcasm, that the Chartist leaders and members of the General Convention had denounced the influence of paper money as one of the most abominable weapons in the hands of their oppressors. He stated and reiterated his opinion that the Petition contained the exhortations chiefly of " very designing and insidious persons, wishing not the prosperity of the people," but seeking to arouse discord and confusion, " to produce a degree of misery, the consequence of which would be to create a great alarm that would be fatal, not only to the constitution as it now exists, not only to those rights which are now said to be monopolized by a particular class, but fatal to any established government." Disraeli put it remarkably well when in the course of his retort to Russell he remarked that " the noble Lord had answered the speech of the honorable member for Birming- ham, but he had not answered the Chartists." It was his opinion that Attwood had made a very dexterous speech '* in favor of the middle classes," but that actual facts led to a very different conclusion. He found among the Chartists the greatest hostility to the middle classes. Stanch Tory that he was, he discovered that the people " complained only of the government by the middle classes. They made no attack on the aristocracy — none on the Corn Laws — but upon the newly-enfranchised constituency, not on the old — upon that peculiar constituency which was the basis of the noble Lord's government." Not committing himself on the real issues of the Charter, he called to account the Minister of the Crown for his nonchalant attitude towards the " re- markable social movement " and for despising the one mil- lion two hundred and eighty thousand fellow-subjects who 183] THE WRESTLING FORCES 183 had signed the Petition because of their discontent with the existing conditions. He saw " social insurrection " at the very threshold, and, much as he disapproved of the Char- ter, he sympathized with the Chartists, who formed a great body of his countrymen and who labored under great grievances/ The debate, in which several other members participated, concluded with the division of forty-eight votes in favor as over against two hundred and thirty-seven in opposition to Attwood's motion. This division greatly disheartened the Chartist leaders. The Convention, which had reconvened in London on the loth of July, fully realized how serious a blow the cause had received, as well as its own impotence which resulted from the arrest and resignation of many of its members. On the day after the defeat of Attwood's motion, being of the opinion that it was utterly useless to^ expect anything from the House by way of petitioning, and that the people would not get liberty until they took it, the question of a general strike, or a sacred month, was again brought up for con- sideration. After lengthy discussions, a resolution was finally passed on the i6th that it was the opinion of the Convention " that the people should work no longer after the 1 2th of August next, unless the power of voting for members of parliament, to protect their labor, is guaran- teed to them." This resolution was, however, subsequently rescinded on the motion of Bronterre, who stated that strict enquiries of the leaders in various districts had convinced him that the people were not prepared to carry out a gen- eral strike. Letters to the same effect were also read from Frost and other leaders. The painful consciousness of lack ^ Disraeli himself called this " a capital speech " and seemed to have taken pride in the fact that the Whig government did not Hke it. See the same letter quoted above. 184 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [184 of authority on the part of the Convention was revealed in the following resolution which was introduced by Bronterre and carried by a vote of twelve against six, the remaining seven members present refusing to commit themselves : ^ That while the Convention continues to be unanimously of opinion that nothing short of a general strike, or suspension of labor throughout the country, will ever suffice to re-estab- lish the rights and liberties of the industrious classes, we never- theless cannot take upon ourselves the responsibility of dictat- ing the time or circumstances of such strike, believing that we are incompetent to do so for the following reasons : ist: Because our numbers have been greatly reduced by the desertion, absence, and arbitrary arrests of a large portion of our members. 2nd: Because great diversity of opinion prevails amongst the remaining members, as to the practicability of a general strike, in the present state of trade in the manufacturing districts. 3rd : Because a similar diversity of opinion seems to prevail out of doors, amongst our constituents and the working classes generally. 4th: Because, under these circumstances, it is more than doubtful whether an order from the Convention for a general holiday would not be a failure. 5th : Because, while we firmly believe that an universal strike would prove the salvation of the country, we are at the same time equally convinced that a partial strike would only entail the bitterest privations and sufferings on all parties who take part in it, and, in the present exasperated state of public feeling, not improbably lead to confusion and anarchy. 6th: Because, although it is the duty of the Convention to participate in all the people's dangers, it is no part of our duty to create danger unnecessarily, either for ourselves or others. ^ Gammage, op. cit., p. 1416. 185] THE WRESTLING FORCES 1 85 To create it for ourselves would be folly — to create it for others would be a crime. 7th : Because we believe that the people themselves are the only fit judges of their right and readiness to strike work, as also of their own resources and capabilities of meeting the emergencies which such an event would entail. Under these circumstances, we decide that a committee of three be ap- pointed to reconsider the vote of the i6th instant, and to sub- stitute for it an address, which shall leave to the people them- selves to decide whether they will or will not commence the sacred month on the 12th of August, at the same time explain- ing the reasons for adopting such a course, and pledging the Convention to co-operate with the people in whatever measures they may deem necessary to their safety and emancipation. The committee provided for in the resolution was ex- tended to five members, and included Bronterre and O'Con- nor. The evidence collected with reference to the expedi- ency of a general strike convinced them that such a step would be fatal to the movement, and they unanimously recommended the abandonment of the project of a sacred month. On the 6th of August a resolution to the same effect, moved by Bronterre and seconded by O'Connor, was accordingly passed by the General Council of the Con- vention, recommending at the same time the cessation of work for tzuo or three days " in order to devote the whole of that time to solemn processions and solemn meetings." The resolution embodied a strong appeal to all the trades to cooperate as united bodies in making a grand national moral demonstration on the 12th of August, as otherwise " it will be impossible to save the country from a revolu- tion of blood, which after enormous sacrifices of life and property will terminate in the utter subjection of the work- ing people to the monied murderers of society." The lack of organization and centralized leadership was l86 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [i86 keenly felt at this critical period, and the " national holi- day " turned out a complete fiasco, causing some disiturb- ances in several towns, but generally unobserved throughout the country. Its original self-confidence and aggressiveness having disappeared, the Convention could hardly expect to have its mandates respected by the Chartists at large. The " People's Parliament " thus lost its raison d'etre. Bron- terre's motion on the 6th of September for the dissolution of the body, however, met stringent opposition, and the mem- bers being equally divided — eleven against eleven — it was carried only by the deciding vote of the chairman. The division was by no means on party lines, some of the ex- treme revolutionists voting with the most devoted followers of Lovett. The dissolution of the Convention came at a time when the government policy of persecution and terror had as- sumed unparalleled proportions. Hundreds of Chartists had been arrested and tried for sedition, and no relaxation was in view. Severe sentences were imposed on national and local leaders, in accordance with the theory of the Attorney-General that there was danger in allowing those men of talent to be at large. The government first showed its mettle on the 5th and 6th of August, at the trial of Lovett and Collins for seditious libel. The attack on the Bull Ring assembly had been made, as Lovett said in his defence, " the subject of reprehension and censure from one extremity of the kingdom to another." The public en- quiry of the Town Council of Birmingham showed that the universal condemnation was well founded. In its resolu- tion the Council used practically the same terms for which Lovett and Collins were tried. The enquiry " proved that a brutal and bloody attack had been made upon the people of Birmingham, and that it was their opinion that if the police had not attacked the people, no disorder would have 187] THE WRESTLING FORCES 1 87 occurred, and they considered the riot was incited by the London poHce." ^ Notwithstanding these facts, the Government did its utmost to convict Lovett and his colleague, ostensibly for the resolutions on the Bull-Ring outrage but in reality for the role which these victims had played in the General Con- vention. The prosecutor dwelt at length on the document which Lovett had signed by order of the Convention "with all the form and solemnity of a proclamation by Her Maj- esty Queen Victoria," and said bluntly that " the Attorney- General would have neglected his duty if he had not selected for prosecution Mr. Lovett, who was a man of very con- siderable powers. He was a man who, if he willed tO' do ill, had the capacity to do it." - The men selected to serve on the jury were decidedly hostile to the defendants, two of them having previously avowed their conviction that " all Chartists ought to be hanged." The objection of Lovett to those men was of no avail. Collins was defended by Sfergeant Goulburn, a prominent Tory, who saw in his task, as he expressed it, " a glorious opportunity of having a slap at the Whigs." Lovett conducted his own defence, disregarding the adage quoted to him by his friends that " he who defends himself has a fool for his client." He delivered a masterly address to the jury in a manner which strongly contrasted with the political speech of the profes- sional advocate Goulburn. Surveying the history and the causes that had led to the Chartist movement, he asserted in a dignified and convincing way the constitutional right of public meetings, of free discussion, and of public peti- tioning. The Chartist movement, as all other movements in favor of the oppressed, necessarily occasioned great un- * Lovett, op. cit., p. 220. * The Trial of William Lovett for a Seditious Libel, 2d edition, Lon- don, pp. 5 and 19. 1 88 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [i88 easiness among those who would be deprived of unjust power and corrupt privilege. Far greater culpability was on the side of those who instigated the Bull Ring disorder than on the part of the people who merely repulsed the fla- grant and unconstitutional attack. The resolutions which he had signed were perfectly justified by the circumstances. He refuted the charge of criminal intention on his part, and quoted many authorities, political and legal, to substan- tiate his arguments as to the lack of guilt from a technical, as well as from a moral, point of view. In its comments on the trial, the Morning Chronicle of August 8, 1839, said : The speeches of Mr. Sergeant Goulburn, in defence of John Collins, and William Lovett in his own defence, present an edifying contrast of tone and temper — of taste and judgment. The learned sergeant's argument, had he made it out, could have little profited his client, or served the ends of justice. Had that of Mr. Lovett been better supported by facts, it must have secured his acquittal. The one is a misplaced ebullition of party virulence ; the other a temporate and talented plead- ing, which elicited strong commendation from the counsel for the prosecution. And yet the one of these men, independently of his professional standing, was long deemed one of the principal supporters of his party in the House of Commons, while the other has not even a voice in the election of a repre- sentative to sit in that House. Is it strange that Mr. Lovett should be a discontented man ? We condemn the language for which he has been convicted; we should also condemn him were he satisfied to belong to what Mr. Hume emphatically calls the " slave class." His defence at least demotistrates his qualification for the franchise. Lovett's appeal for a favorable verdict was an impas- sioned plea for the rights of man. But it fell on deaf ears. It took the jury but two or three minutes of deliberation to return a verdict of " guilty," and the defendants were each 189] THE WRESTLING FORCES 1 89 sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. This singular victory of the government prosecutor was followed by a number of others. The prediction of the terrorists came true, and the authorities looked " upon all parties in the Chartist ranks alike." Adherents of either wing were seized and punished severely for most trivial offences. Even Stephens, who at his trial, on the 15th of August, re- pudiated all radicalism, was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of eighteen months. Four Chartists were sen- tenced to death for participation in the Bull Ring outbreak, and it was only after strong representations to the govern- ment that their punishment was commuted to transporta- tion for life. Within a very short period there was hardly a leader who was not committed to jail or not bound to appear for trial. The breaking-up of the Convention did not in the least affect the mood of the ardent supporters of the Charter. Public meetings and open demonstrations gave place to more dangerous vehicles of agitation within narrow circles of revengeful conspirators. The ill-feeling of the work- ingmen grew ever more ominous because of the inexorable rigor and discipline to which the Chartist prisoners were subjected. Lovett and Collins, the least offensive of the agitators, soon found out that it was impossible for them to preserve their health on the kind of food allowed to them and begged, but in vain, to be permitted to purchase a little tea, sugar and butter, and occasionally a small quantity of meat. The magistrates also refused to allow them, without specific authority from the Secretary of State, the use of writing materials and books. Petitions and memorials in their favor were presented by the Working Men's Associa- tion, the people of Birmingham, Francis Place, and mem- bers of Parliament. But, as Lovett states, whenever the magistrates were applied to for any little mitigation of their I90 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [190 severities, " they invariably contended that they had no power without the sanction of the Secretary of State; and when he was memorialized, he referred us to the visiting magistrates." ^ Other Chartists, without the powerful in- fluence exerted on behalf of Lovett and his colleague, were entirely at the mercy of the wrathful prison authorities, and some of the victims subsequently died in jail from dis- eases contracted there. The policy of retaliation pursued by the government towards the Chartist prisoners caused particular resentment in the case of Henry Vincent, the idol of the Welsh miners, who was tried on the 2d of August, and sentenced to im- prisonment in Monmouth county jail for a period of twelve months. The open hostility of the jur>% one of whom had been heard to declare that he zvould give nine-pence to buy a halter for hanging the defendant without judge or jury, and the severe punishment, caused much acrimony against the authorities. The treatment of the prisoner like a com- mon felon still more irritated his admirers. Frost himself, on the 28th of September, wrote to a former colleague, a magistrate of the county, exhorting him to obtain a miti- gation of Vincent's treatment. All remonstrances and pro- tests, however, were of no avail. It was then that the Welsh Chartists conceived the idea of releasing Vincent by force and began to perfect plans which culminated in the Newport Riot of November 4, 1839, when thousands of men " rushed like a torrent from the hills," anned with the gun, the pike, and the bludgeon, " to lay in ruins the com- mercial emporium of their county." ^ Lovett, op. cit., pp. 229-23T. CHAPTER XII The Newport Riot The stories of the events leading to the Welsh rising are utterly conflicting. The biographer of John Frost de- nies the existence of any previous plan of organization: Those who have said that Mr. Frost was long engaged in organizing the people for the Newport outbreak, must here- after hold their peace, or be content to have attached to them the imputation of uttering against a man who has it not in power to defend himself, an injurious allegation, which there exists no evidence to establish , . . The gathering on the eve of the riots had no direct object laid dotmi, and that, until a very few hours previous to their meeting, the assembly was not even agreed upon,^ Lovett, on the other hand, gives what seems to be a more authentic account, obtained " from a person who took an active part in matters pertaining to it." It appears that, having failed in his endeavors on behalf of Vincent, Frost came to London and confided to two or three members of the Convention his great difficulty in restraining the Welsh Chartists from attempting to release the prisoner by force. One of the conferees then gave assurance that if the Welsh effected a rising in favor of Vincent, the people of York- shire and Lancashire would join in a rising for the Charter. The parties decided not to take any steps before consulting the local leaders in their respective districts. Shortly after- wards a meeting was held at Heckmondwick which was ' The Life of John Frost, Esq., London, 1840, p. 7. 191I 191 1^2 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [192 attended by about forty delegates, including three members of the Convention, and which expressed a determination to aid the intended rising in Wales by a simultaneous outbreak in the North. O'Connor was requested by a special York- shire delegate to lead them, and was apparently mis- understood by the latter, who reported the leader's readi- ness to head the rising. Finding that the people were in earnest, he immediately sent one representative to York- shire and Lancashire and another to Wales to caution the leaders against the rising. When found by O'Connor's envoy. Frost informed him that the message came too late, that the people were resolved on releasing Vincent from prison, and that he might as well blow his own brains out as try to oppose them or shrink back. He urged him to go back to the North and inform the leaders of the Welsh preparations. The riot, however, was precipitated before any outside aid could be rendered.^ The activities of Frost before the outbreak in no way tended to allay the spirit of strife. His last public letter, dated at Newport, October 22, 1839, and addressed to the farmers and tradesmen of Monmouthshire, assumes particular significance in the light of the subsequent tragic insurrection. Assuring his " fellow-countrymen " that, un- less the Charter be speedily enacted, " there will be no security for person or property," the author seeks to im- press the people with the realization of the cause of such unsaf ety : In all countries, where great discontent has existed, there ' Cf. Lovett, op. cit., pp. 239-241. In his enmity towards O'Connor. Lovett never fails to impeach the conduct and motives of the latter. In this case, he insinuates that O'Connor misleadingly induced " the poor fellow," the Yorkshire delegate, to beheve that he would head the insurrection, as well as that he " set about to render the outbreak in- efifectual." 193] -^^^ NEWPORT RIOT 193 always must have been a cause, and that cause always was the oppression and cruelty of men in authority. What is it which has rendered the laboring classes of this country so discon- tented? What has produced that deep and powerful feeling which a spark would now ignite from one end of the country to the other? A deep sense of wrong — a thorough convic- tion of the injustice with which they are treated. Their labor is taken from them by the means of the law ; it is given to a set of idle and dissolute men and women ; those who produce not, are clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day, while the laborer is fed with the crumbs which fall from the table of the rich. The working-men have petitioned for justice ; their petitions were treated with contempt, and their leaders imprisoned and treated with greater severity than felons; they ask for a reduction of taxation, and the answer is, a rural police. The proceedings of the last Quarter Sessions, are well worthy your serious attention. One oppressive act follows the other. Sometime ago we had a Poor-law Amendment Act, by which the management of your own money was completely taken out of your own hands, and placed in the hands of the landlords. Here's a pretty law, by which poverty is made a crime and punished by confinement, by a separation of man and wife, and parent and child. To support this oppressive law we are now to have a rural police ! — armed men all over the country — to suppress discontent by force, and the murmur- ings of poverty by the bludgeon! And this, too, in England — in the land formerly of freedom — in the land in which, at one time, the constable's staff, and the sherift"'s wand, were quite sufficient to preserve peace. . . . Suppose the farmers and tradesmen were to ask themselves how is this likely to end? It must produce one of two states of things. Every year will add to the oppression and poverty of the people. Tyranny has no cessation ; every desperate act must be supported by one more violent, the preservation of the tyrants renders this necessary. We are fast approaching the state of France, previously to the first revolution. We 194 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [194 have spies watching all public proceedings ; every word will very soon be weighed in the balance of the despot, and con- strued at the will of those in authority. This will produce a sullen discontent which will be evinced in a way to render property and life insecure. This will be a pretty state of society when every farmer will come to market with a brace of pistols in his pocket — when every man in authority will be looking for an enemy in every one he meets. This is no imaginary picture, it will be a state of society, the natural ef- fects of taxation, of poverty, of misery, and of crime. Look at the other side of the picture ; suppose that the working-men, driven to despair, should follow the example of our own, and of other, countries. Here would be a state of suffering ! All the angry passions in full scope — resentment for past injuries, hatred public and private. Where, in such a case, would be the voice that, under those circumstances, would be listened to? The French people, previously to the revolution, were led by some of the most benevolent men in the world ; they sought for a change in the most oppressive laws that ever existed. The government fancied that if it could destroy the leaders, that all would be well. In many instances it succeeded ; and what was the consequence ? Lead- ers ten times more violent. It appears to be the opinion of the authorities in this country, that if they could imprison or destroy the leaders of the movement, that all would be well. Never was there a greater mistake. Could they succeed, they would exchange benevolent men for cruel ones. Stopping the movement is out of the question, unless by altering a system which is the cause of all the evils of which the people com- plain.^ The plan of the Welsh Chartists, as brought out at the subsequent trials, was to have the members of the various lodges throughout the district assemble, fully armed, and then march towards Newport in three divisions. A copy of ' The English Chartist Circular, no. 27. 195] '^^^ NEWPORT RIOT 195 the directions produced at the magistrates' examination? gave the details of the scheme: ^ Let us form into sections, by choosing a good staunch inde- pendent brother at the head of each section; that is to say, each section to be composed of ten men, who are known to him to be sincere, so that the head of each section may know his men. Thus five sections will comprise 55 men and offi- cers. Then these five officers — such as corporals — will choose a head officer, so that he may give his five officers notice; so these 50 men are to be called a bye-name; then three fifties will compose a company, and the three officers will choose a proper person to command the 165 in company, officers and all, such as a captain. Then three companies will compose 495 men and officers, which officer will be such as a brigade-gen- eral. So three brigades will choose a chief, which will be 1485 men and officers, which chief officer is to be in the style of a conventional-general. So that by these means the signal " W. R." can be given in two hours' notice, within seven miles, by the head officer noticing every officer under him, until it comes to the deacons or corporals to notice their ten men; the officers to have bye-names — not military names. It was decided that the first division, starting from Black- wood, should be headed by Frost ; the second, composed of men from Brynmawr and Ebbw Vale, should leave the latter place under the command of Zephaniah Williams; while the third division, consisting of the Chartists from Blaenavon, Abersychan, and neighboring places, should leave Pontypool under the leadership of William Jones.* ^ The Chartist Riots at Newport, November, 1839, 2d edition, 1889, pp. 19-20. * Zephaniah Williams, a keeper of a beerhouse in a little town near Newport, was one of the most enthusiastic followers of Vincent and Frost, and during the Qiartist agitation exercised great influence among the workingmen of his district. William Jones, or WiUiam Lloyd Jones, as he designated himself in later years, was the illegitimate son of a tradesman at Bristol. In his 1^6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [196 The three divisions were directed to meet on Sunday, No- vember the third, at midnight, at a place several miles from Newport. Thence they would march into the town, which would be reached about two o'clock in the morning, attack the troops who were expected to be caught unprepared in the absence of any suspicion of danger, break down the bridge across the Usk, stop the mail-coaches and the traffic, and take possession of the town. The delay of the mail was to be a signal to Binningham, and then to the whole North, to rise in arms. The plan was carried out only in part. On the Sunday preceding the attack, all villages in the district were in a state of mobilization, and, in spite of the heavy rain, men of all ages, fathers and sons, gathered at the appointed places, armed with weapons of every description. Those who had known nothing of the plot were struck with terror and hid themselves in the recesses of their dwellings or in the neighboring woods. Many houses are re- ported to have been searched, and men dragged from bed and forced to join the march. The center of all action was in Blackwood, where the commander-in-chief, John Frost, issued orders and received reports from his subordinates. About seven o'clock a messenger presented himself to Frost, saying that he had come from Newport ; that " the soldiers there were in the barracks ; that they were all Chartists ; that their arms and ammunition were all packed, and that they were all ready to come up on the Hills, only they were waiting for the Chartists to go down to fetch them." ^ youth he gave up his trade of watchmaker and became a strolling actor. In 1833 he was made the manager of a watchmaking business in Ponty- pool, and then, after his marriage, started the same business on his own account. His attractive personality and histrionic talents rendered him a commanding figure among the Pontypool Chartists. In the movement he distinguished himself as one of the most zealous advo- cates of physical force. * The Chartist Riots at Newport, p. 21. 197] -^^^ NEWPORT RIOT igy This was evidently a spurious report. As a matter of fact, the news had by that time reached Newport that the Chartists were scouring the Hills in all directions and gath- ering great forces. The mayor, Thomas Phillips, imme- diately summoned live hundred special constables and stationed them in various places. Messengers and scouts were sent out in all directions to watch and report the progress of the Chartist movements. In his intense alarm at the news imparted to him by the spies, the mayor also despatched a request to Bristol that a reinforcement of troops be sent at once to Newport. In the course of the evening special constables paraded the streets and arrested all suspicious persons. The severity of the weather and the incessant torrents of rain during the whole night greatly impeded the progress of the several divisions, which more than once had to seek shelter. Thus the original plan of invading Newport at night was completely upset. It was morning when the gathered forces reached the outskirts of the town, and the news of their approach reached the mayor in time for him to station himself with a military detachment and fifty con- stables in the Westgate Hotel, where a number of prisoners taken during the night were detained. About nine o'clock the head of the Chartist body, under the command of Frost, appeared, cheering and shouting, at the gates of the West- gate Hotel. The men were armed with " guns, pistols, blunderbusses, swords, bayonets, daggers, pikes, bill-hooks, reaping-hooks, hatchets, cleavers, axes, pitch-forks, blades of knives, scythes and saws fixed in staves, pieces of iron two and three yards in length, sharpened at the one end, blud- geons of various length and size, hand and sledge-hammers, mandrils — in fact, every weapon that could be at all made available." ^ The leading ranks made an attempt to enter ^ The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, p. 4. 198 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [i^g the stable-yard, but finding the gates strongly barred, they proceeded to the portico of the Hotel. One of the leaders ascended the steps and demanded the surrender of the pris- oners, to which a special constable replied, " No, never!" The firing of the first gun, however, dissipated the courage of the constables, who were armed only with staves. Most of them fled, some to the cellars, some to' the roof, and others to the yard and other places of security, leaving a few of their wounded comrades to the mercy of the in- vaders. Within a few moments the house was blockaded by the rebels, who fired frequent shots through the broken windows into the various rooms of the building. It was then that the mayor, slightly wounded, ordered the soldiers to use their guns. The well-aimed volleys soon proved effective. The piercing shrieks of scores of dying and wounded men created a panic which destroyed all discipline in the rear as well as the front ranks. The rebel army, variously estimated between ten and twenty thousand men, recoiled in horror before a mere handful of defenders, scattering their weapons and even their garments as they scampered away in all directions. After ten or fifteen min- utes of steady and deadly firing by the soldiers, even the most reckless conspirators fled from the place, which pre- sented a most gruesome sight : Many who suffered in the fight, crawled away ; some ex- hibiting frightful wounds, and glaring eyes, wildly crying for mercy, and seeking a shelter from the charitable: others, de- sperately maimed, were carried in the arms of the humane for medical aid; and a few of the miserable objects that were helplessly and mortally wounded, continued for some minutes to writhe in torture, crying for water, and presenting, in their gory agonies, a dismal and impressive example to any of the political seducers, or the seduced, who might have been within view, and a sickening and melancholy spectacle for the eye of humanity.^ ' The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, p. 43. igg] THE NEWPORT RIOT 199 Inside the Westgate five dead bodies and a number of severely wounded men were found weltering in their blood. One man, who was discovered under the txirtico of the mayor's house, where he had crept, after receiving a gun-shot wound, expired exclaiming, " The Charter for ever!" Altogether twenty-two bodies were gathered and subsequently interred in St. Woolos churchyard. A char- acteristic expression of the zealous faith in the cause which impelled the actions of those men even to the extent of martyrdom is found in the letter which one of the victims, a cabinetmaker from Pontypool, a youth barely nineteen years of age, wrote to his parents on the eve of the riot: ^ Dear Parents: I hope this will find you well, as I am myself at present. I shall this night be engaged in a struggle for freedom, and should it please God to spare my life, I shall see you soon ; but if not, grieve not for me. I shall fall in a noble cause. My tools are at Mr. Cecil's, and likewise my clothes. Yours truly, George Shell. In the consternation that followed this attack the author- ities did not lose time in taking steps to bring the conspir- ators to justice. A reward of £100 was offered for the capture of any of the three chief commanders. Frost was taken into custody before the close of the evening. When apprehended, he appeared fatigued and depressed, and sur- rendered without protest. He handed from his pockets three new pistols, a flask nearly full of powder and about fifty bullets. Jones was arrested about a week after the attack, and Williams eluded capture for ten days. The three leaders and ten other Chartists were committed, and subsequently indicted for high treason, while about thirty ^ The Chartist Riots at Newport, p. 45. 200 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [200 Others were held on lesser charges. The attitude of the government left nO' doubt that the fate of the principal actors was sealed. On the 9th of November, the mayor of Newport received a letter from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, conveying the Queen's approval of his conduct, and this expression of thanks was followed on the 13th with an ofifer of knighthood for the mayor. The several constables who had been wounded in the affray were rewarded with pensions of £20 per annum each for life. Vincent's paper, The Western Vindicator, which had a large circulation among the Welsh workingmen, was seized wher- ever it could be found, and was suppressed until it disap- peared. The Chartists, on the other hand, took up the cause of the prisoners in quite a practical way. A conven- tion represented by many delegates met in London and decided to try all available means to secure a favorable verdict for their comrades, and the appeals for funds by the defense committees throughout the country received generous response. The Special Commission, which was headed by the Lord Chief Justice Nicholas Tindal, opened its sittings on the loth of December, 1839, '^^ the Crown Court at Monmouth. The town was in a state of intense excitement. Constab- ulary and military forces were stationed near and within the court-house, and, in apprehension of all possible con- tingencies, loop-holes were pierced in the structure in such positions as to enable troops to fire upon any person af>- proaching. The Chief Justice charged the grand jury and defined the law relating to high treason. The next day Frost and twelve of his associates were placed at the bar and informed that a true bill of high treason had been found against them by the grand jury. The indictment comprised four counts, the substance of the charges being that the defendants had broken their faith and true alle- 20l] THE NEWPORT RIOT 20I giance to the Sovereign and levied war against the Queen within her realm with intent to compel her to change her measures. The trial commenced on the 31st of December, when the prisoners pleaded " not guilty," and resolved to sever in their challenges. The trial of Frost came first. Both the Attorney-General and the counsel for the defense contested the case with distinct dexterity and resolve. The effect of the damaging evidence given by most of the thirty- seven witnesses could not, however, be destroyed by the counsel, and on the 8th of January, 1840, after half an hour's deliberation, the jury brought in a verdict of " guilty," accompanied by a recommendation of the pris- oner " to the merciful consideration of the court." Zeph- aniah Williams was put on trial on the 9th of January, and on the 13th the jury returned a verdict of " guilty" with the same recommendation. The court then proceeded with the case of William Jones, and an identical verdict was re- turned on the 15th of the same month. On the following day the three prisoners were brought in to receive sentence. Frost appeared calm and resigned; Williams was ghastly pale and leaned for support against the dock; but Jones remained firm and dignified to the very last, apparently little impressed by the solemn import with which the Lord Chief Justice, holding out no hope of mercy, addressed the con- victed Chartists. The latter retained their equanimity even after the sentence had been pronounced in the following appalling words : That you, John Frost, and you, Zephaniah Williams, and you, William Jones, be taken hence to the place from whence you came, and be thence drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, and that each of you be there hanged by the neck until you be dead ; and that afterwards the head of each of you shall be severed from his body, and the body of each, divided into four quarters, shall be disposed of as her Majesty 202 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [202 shall think fit. And may God almighty have mercy upon your souls.^ A similar sentence was subsequently passed upon five other rioters, who had pleaded guilty to the charge of high treason, on the understanding that their lives would be spared. The Chief Justice accordingly intimated to them that, as they had not been the contrivers of the treason, their punishment would be commuted to transportation for life. Of the other prisoners, eighteen were sentenced to various terms of hard labor, while a larger number were either traversed to the assizes or acquitted. The news of the conviction of the Welsh chieftains was received by the Chartists with an ebullition of wrath. Nu- merous spontaneous meetings were held throughout the country, protesting against the sentence as a perversion of justice and an act of vengeance, and petitioning both Houses of Parliament to save the lives of the convicts. Memorials praying for mercy were also presented to the Queen. The serious outbreaks in Sheffield. Bradford, and other towns, threatened to spread to the large industrial centers. Rumors of incendiarism began to circulate from town to town. The government, however, seemed not to waver from its deter- mination to carry out the sentence. The possibility of miti- gating the penalty caused Sir John Campbell, the Attorney- General, keen mental anguish. He appeared personally to argue against the validity of the objection which had been raised at the trials by the counsel for the defense, and which the Lord Chief Justice had submitted for consideration to the Court of Exchequer, namely, that the lists of witnesses and the jury had not been delivered to the prisoners in pur- suance of the Act of Parliament. The case was argued by both sides on the 25th, 27th and 28th of January, and the ' The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, p. 82. 203] ^^^ NEWPORT RIOT 203 Court decided that the objection, although valid, had not been taken at the proper time. The state of mind of Sir Campbell is revealed in the following remarks which he entered in his diary after the conclusion of the trials : ^ I have passed a very anxious day, as if I myself had been on trial. To my utter astonishment and dismay, Tindal summed up for an acquittal. What he meant, the Lord only knows. No human being doubted the guilt of the accused, and we had proved it by the clearest evidence. Chief Justice Tindal is a very honorable man, and had no assignable reason for deviating from the right course. Yet from the beginning to the end of his charge, he labored for an acquittal. The execution of the three convicts was fixed for Satur- day, February i, 1840. The executioner, the heads-man, the scaffold, and the implements of death were kept in readiness, when a respite for the prisoners reached Mon- mouth on the 30th of January. This, however, inspired but little hope, as it was immediately followed by an official announcement of the High Sheriff that the sentence would be carried out on the 6th of February. On January 31st, Sir Frederick Pollock, the chief counsel for Frost, for the sixth time headed a deputation to Lord Melbourne endeav- oring to prevail on him to mitigate the severity of the punishment. The Premier remained inflexible, although Sir Pollock had conveyed to him the urgent personal entreaty of Lord Brougham. When informed of the result, the latter persuaded Sir Pollock to try once more. The seventh interview proved successful. Rumors had it that in this decision the government gratified the personal wishes of the Queen. On the ist of February a respite during Her Majesty's pleasure was read to the prisoners, and secret orders were given to the governor of the jail to be pre- * The Chartist Riots at Newport, pp. 66-67. 204 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [204 pared for immediate departure with the convicts. On Sun- day night, the 2d of February, Frost, Williams and Jones were removed from Monmouth jail and, under military escort, conveyed to Chepstow and placed on a steamer which was bound for Portsmouth. All efforts to save the victims from banishment proved futile, the Secretary of State holding that he could not, consistently with his public duty, advise the Queen to grant the prayers. On the 24th of the same month the three Welshmen, together with two hundred and ten other prisoners, embarked in a convict vessel at Spithead, destined for Van Diemen's Land. The motion which Representative Leader brought forward on the loth of March, for an address to the Queen praying for a free pardon, was supported only by seven members.^ While the doom of the banished leaders continued to agi- tate the minds of the Chartists, sincere sympathy was every- where expressed to the relatives of the men slain at the Westgate. On Sunday, April 12, 1840, the graves of the victims were decorated with flowers and laurels, sur- mounted with the following lines : May the rose of England never blow, The Clyde of Scotland cease to flow, The harp of Ireland never play, Until the Chartists gain the day. ' The repeated agitation on behalf of the three martyrs finally led the government, in 1854, to grant them conditional pardons, forbidding re- turn to the United Kingdom. Frost went to the United States, where he resided for two years. The numerous memorials from Newport, Shef- field, and other towns, finally won him unconditional pardon. In August, 1856, he returned to Newport, and was received with great enthusiasm. The Town Council, however, refused to comply with his demand to have his name restituted in the list of freemen of the bor- ough. He then took up his residence at Stapleton. After years of seclusion, he died on the 28th of July, 1877. Williams, who had become a wealthy coal owner, died on the 8th of May, 1874, in Tasmania. Jones pursued his occupation of watchmaker at Launceston, Austra- lia, having no desire to go elsewhere. He died there in December, 1873. 205] THE NEWPORT RIOT 205 The onslaught of the government was not confined to Wales alone. The prosecutions of the Chartists filled the chronicles of well-nigh every town in the United Kingdom. The outrages of the police and the spies became a public nuisance. One after another the active men in the move- ment were apprehended and convicted. Most of the leaders conducted their own defense, and their addresses to the jury, some of them lasting five, six and even ten hours, be- came a singular feature at these trials. Severe penalties were imposed on Bronterre, O'Connor, the veteran radical William Benbow, and other leaders, and all were subjected to the most humiliating treatment by the prison authorities. The following table shows the distribution of the Char- tist prisoners confined for various terms for seditious libel, for riot, for attending illegal meetings, for possession of arms, and other political offences, from January i, 1839, to June I, 1840 :^ Chartist Convicts in England County. Where Confined. ^ . ^ •^ Convicts. Chester County Gaol 29 Durham County Gaol 3 Kent House of Correction, Canterbury i Lancaster Lancaster Castle 5 County Gaol and House of Correction, Kirkdale 135 House of Correction, Preston 3 Lincoln Lincoln Castle i Middlesex House of Correction 14 Gaol of Newgate 8 Westminster Bridewell 13 Monmouth County Gaol 63 House of Correction, Usk 4 Northumberland . .House of Correction, Newcastle 19 ' Based on returns to an order of the House of Commons. Cf. The English Chartist Circular, no. i. 2o6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [206 Nottingham County Gaol 23 House of Correction, Southwell 12 Somerset County Gaol, Ilchester 3 Surrey Queen's Bench Prison 2 Warwick County Gaol 28 Wilts County Gaol 8 House of Correction, Devizes i Worcester Gaol and House of Correction 3 York York Castle 69 East Riding, House of Correction 2 North Riding, House of Correction 12 West Riding, House of Correction 19 Total for England 480 Chartist Convicts in Wales County. Where ConHned. Number of Convicts. Brecon County Gaol and House of Correction 12 Glamorgan House of Correction, Swansea i Montgomery Gaol and House of Correction 50 Total for Wales 63 Total for England and Wales 543 The wholesale arrests and the ruthless persecution of the Chartists seemed to have crushed the movement. The Whig press had apparent cause to rejoice at the govern- ment victory. The excitement caused by the Newport riot and the subsequent trials was gradually waning; public meetings became less frequent and less aggressive, and a large portion of the Chartist press went out of existence. There were all the symptoms of an early death of the mon- ster movement. Yet even then all but those blinded with conceit and self-delusion could see the new weapons that were being forged by the workingmen against their enemies. Carlyle voiced the truth when he said that it was the " chi- mera of Chartism " and not the reality that was put 207] T^H^ NEWPORT RIOT 20/ down/ The causes of discontent remaining unhampered, the hydra-headed " chimera " could not be crushed. In- deed, the government prosecutor had not completed his task of heaping vengeance on the organizers of the movement when a new force of recruits appeared on the battlefield ready to fight and to win. But this begins a new chapter in the history of Chartism. * Thomas Carlyle, Chartism, London, 1840, p. 2. APPENDIX A Petition Agreed to at the " Crown and Anchor " Meet- ing, February 28th, 1837 " To the Honorable the Commons of Great Britain and Ire- land. The Petition of the undersigned Members of the Work- ing Men's Association and others sheweth — " That the only rational use of the institutions and laws of society is justly to protect, encourage, and support all that can be made to contribute to the happiness of all the people. " That, as the object to be obtained is mutual benefit, so ought the enactment of laws to be by mutual consent. " That obedience to laws can only be justly enforced on the certainty that those who are called on to obey them have had, either personally or by their representatives, a power to enact, amend, or repeal them. " That all those who are excluded from this share of polit- ical power are not justly included within the operation of the laws ; to them the laws are only desix>tic enactments, and the legislative assembly from whom they emanate can only be considered parties to an unholy compact, devising plans and schemes for taxing and subjecting the many. " That the universal political right of every human being is superior and stands apart from all customs, forms, or ancient usage ; a fundamental right not in the power of man to confer, or justly to deprive him of. " That to take away this sacred right from the person and to vest it in property, is a wilful perversion of justice and common sense, as the creation and security of property are the consequences of society — the great object of which is human happiness. " That any constitution or code of laws, formed in violation 208 [208 2og] APPENDIX A 209 of men's political and social rights, are not rendered sacred by time nor sanctified by custom. " That the ignorance which originated, or permits their operation, forms no excuse for perpetuating the injustice; nor can aught but force or fraud sustain them, when any consider- able number of the people perceive and feel their degradation. " That the intent and object of your petitioners are to pre- sent such facts before your Honorable House as will serve to convince you and the country at large that you do not repre- sent the people of these realms ; and to appeal to your sense of right and justice, as well as to every principle of honor, for directly making such legislative enactments as shall cause the mass of the people to be represented ; with the view of secur- ing the greatest amioimt of happiness to all classes of society. " Your petitioners find, by returns ordered by your Honor- able House, that the whole people of Great Britain and Ire- land are about 24 millions, and that the males above 21 years of age are 6,023,752, who, in the opinion of your petitioners, are justly entitled to the elective right. " That according to S. Wortley's return (ordered by your Honorable House) the number of registered electors, who have the power to vote for members of Parliament, are only 839,- 519, and of this number only 83^ in 12 give their votes. " That on an analysis of the constituency of the United Kingdom, your petitioners find that 331 members (being a majority of your Honorable House) are returned by one hun- dred and Hfty-one thousand four hundred and ninety-two registered electors! " That comparing the whole of the male population above the age of 21 with the 151,492 electors, it appears that ^V of them, or y^-g- of the entire population, have the power of passing all the laws in your Honorable House. " And your petitioners further find, on investigation, that this majority of 331 members are composed of 163 Tories or Conservatives, 134 Whigs and Liberals, and only 34 who call themselves Radicals ; and out of this limited number it is ques- tionable whether 10 can be found who are truly the represen- tatives of the wants and wishes of the producing classes. 2IO APPENDIX A [2IO " Your petitioners also find that 15 members of your Honor- able House are returned by electors under 200; 55 under 300; 99 under 400; 121 under 500; 150 under 600; 196 under 700; 214 under 800; 240 under 900; and 256 under 1,000; and that many of these constituencies are divided between two members. " They also find that your Honorable House, which is said to be exclusively the people's or the Commons' House, contains Huo hundred and Hve persons who are immediately or remotely related to the Peers of the Realm. " Also that your Honorable House contains i marquess, 7 earls, 19 viscounts, 32 lords, 25 right honorables, 52 honor- ables, 63 baronets, 13 knights, 3 admirals, 7 lord-lieutenants, 42 deputy and vice-lieutenants, i general, 5 lieutenant-generals, 9 major-generals, 32 colonels, 33 lieutenant-colonels, 10 majors, 49 captains in army and navy, 10 lieutenants, 2 comets, 58 barristers, 3 solicitors, 40 bankers, 33 East India proprietors, 13 West India proprietors, 52 place-men, 114 patrons of church livings having the patronage of 274 livings between them; the names of whom your petitioners can furnish at the request of your Honorable House. "Your petitioners therefore respectfully submit to your Honorable House that these facts afford abundant proofs that you do not represent the numbers or the interests of the mil- lions ; but that the persons composing it have interests for the most part foreign or directly opposed to the true interests of the great body of the people. " That perceiving the tremendous power you possess over the lives, liberty and labor of the unrepresented millions — perceiving the military and civil forces at your command — the revenue at your disposal — the relief of the poor in your hands — the public press in your power, by enactments expressly ex- cluding the working classes alone — moreover, the power of delegating to others the whole control of the monetary arrange- ments of the Kingdom, by which the laboring classes may be silently plundered or suddenly suspended from employment — seeing all these elements of power wielded by your Honorable 21 1 ] APPENDIX A 211 House as at present constituted, and fearing the consequences that may result if a thorough reform is not speedily had re- course to, your petitioners earnestly pray your Honorable House to enact the following as the law of these realms, with such other essential details as your Honorable House shall deem necessary: — " A Law for Equally Representing the People of Great Britain and Ireland. equal representation " That the United Kingdom be divided into 200 electoral districts ; dividing, as nearly as possible, an equal number of inhabitants ; and that each district do send a representative to Parliament. universal suffrage " That every person producing proof of his being 21 years of age, to the clerk of the parish in which he has resided six months, shall be entitled to have his name registered as a voter. That the time for registering in each year be from the 1st of January to the ist of March. annual parliaments " That a general election do take place on the 24th of June in each year, and that each vacancy be filled up a fortnight after it occurs. That the hours for voting be from six o'clock in the morning till six o'clock in the evening. NO property qualifications " That there shall be no property qualifications for mem- bers; but on a requisition, signed by 200 voters, in favor of any candidate being presented to the clerk of the parish in which they reside, such candidate shall be put in nomination. And the list of all the candidates nominated throughout the district shall be stuck on the church door in every parish, to enable voters to judge of their qualification. 212 APPENDIX A [212 VOTE BY BALLOT " That each voter must vote in the parish in which he re- sides. That each parish provide as many balloting boxes as there are candidates proposed in the district; and that a tem- porary place be fitted up in each parish church for the purpose of secret voting. And, on the day of election, as each voter passes orderly on to the ballot, he shall have given to him, by the officer in attendance, a balloting ball, which he shall drop into the box of his favorite candidate. At the close of the day the votes shall be counted, by the proper officers, and the numbers stuck on the church doors. The following day the clerk of the district and two examiners shall collect the votes of all the parishes throughout the district, and cause the name of the successful candidate to be posted in every parish of the district. SITTINGS AND PAYMENTS TO MEMBERS " That the members do take their seats in Parliament on the first Monday in October next after their election, and continue their sittings every day (Sundays excepted) till the business of the sitting is terminated, but not later than the ist of Sep- tember. They shall meet every day (during the Session) for business at lo o'clock in the morning, and adjourn at 4. And every member shall be paid quarterly out of the public treas- ury £400 a year. That all electoral officers shall be elected by universal suffrage. " By passing the foregoin^g as the law of the land, you will confer a great blessing on the people of England; and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray." APPENDIX B The People's Charter Being a bill to provide for the just representation of the people of Great Britain and Ireland in the Commons' House of Parliament. (Published on the 8th of May, i8j8). Whereas to insure, as far as it is possible by human fore- thought and wisdom, the just government of the people, it is necessary to subject those who have the power of making the laws to a wholesome and strict responsibility to those whose duty it is to obey them when made. And, whereas, this responsibility is best enforced through the instrumentality of a body which emanates directly from, and is itself immediately subject to, the whole people, and which completely represents their feelings and their interests. And, whereas, the Commons' House of Parliament now ex- ercises, in the name and on the supposed behalf of the people, the power of making the laws, it ought, in order to fulfill with wisdom and with honesty the great duties imposed on it, to be made the faithful and accurate representation of the people's wishes, feelings, and interests. Be it therefore enacted: That, from and after the passing of this Act, every male inhabitant of these realms be entitled to vote for the election of a member of Parliament ; subject, however, to the follow- ing conditions : 1. That he be a native of these realms, or a foreigner who has lived in this country upward of two years, and been naturalized. 2. That he be twenty-one years of age. 213] 213 214 APPENDIX B [214 3. That he be not proved insane when the lists of voters. are revised. 4. That he be not convicted of felony within six months from and after the passing of this Act.^ 5. That his electoral rights be not suspended for bribery at election, or for personation, or for forgery of election certi- ficates, according to the penalties of this Act. ELECTORAL DISTRICTS I. Be it enacted, that for the purpose of obtaining an equal representation of the people in the Commons' House of Par- liament, the United Kingdom be divided into 300 electoral districts.^ II. That each such district contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants. III. That the number of inhabitants be taken from the last census, and as soon as possible after the next ensuing decennial census shall have been taken, the electoral districts be made to conform thereto. IV. That each electoral district be named after the prin- cipal city or borough within its limits. V. That each electoral district return one representative to sit in the Commons' House of Parliament. VI. That the Secretary of State for the Home Department shall appoint three competent persons as commissioners, and as many sub-commissioners as may be necessary for settling the boundaries of each of the 300 electoral districts, and so on from time to time, whenever a new decennial census of the people be taken. VII. That the necessary expenses of the said commissioners, 1 " The People's Charter," as revised at a conference held at Bir- mingham, December, 1842, reads : " 4. That he be not undergoing the sentence of the laws at the time when called upon to exercise the elec- toral right." * There are, say, 6,000,000 of men eligible to vote. This number, divided by 300, gives 20,000 to each member. 215] APPENDIX B 215 sub-commissioners, clerks, and other persons employed by them in the performance of their duties, be paid out of the public treasury. REGISTRATION OFFICERS Be it enacted, that for the purpose of procuring an accurate registration of voters, for finally adjudicating in all cases of objections made against persons claiming to be registered, for receiving the nominations of Members of Parliament and Re- turning Officers, and declaring their election ; as well as for conducting and superintending all matters connected with regis- tration, nomination, and election, according to the provisions of this Act, the following officers be appointed : 1. Returning Officers for each electorial district. 2. Deputy-Returning Officers for each district. 3. A Registration Clerk for every parish containing number of inhabitants, or for every two or more parishes, if united for the purpose of this Act. RETURNING OFFICER, AND HIS DUTIES I. Be it enacted, that at the first general election after the passing of this Act, a returning officer be elected for every electoral district throughout the kingdom, and so in like manner at the end of every three years. ^ II. That, at the end of every such period, the returning officer for each district be nominated in like manner, and elected at the same time, as the Member of Parliament for the district; he shall be eligible to be re-elected. III. That vacancies occasioned by the death, removal, or resignation of the returning officer, shall in like manner be filled up as vacancies for Members of Parliament, for the un- expired term of the three years. - IV. That every returning officer shall appoint a deputy re- ^ The revised " Charter " reads : " at the end of every year." ' The revised " Charter " reads : " for the unexpired term of the year." 2l6 APPENDIX B [216 turning officer, for the day of election, for every balloting place within his district, and in all cases be responsible for the just fulfilment of the duties of such deputies. V. That it be the duty of the returning officers to appoint a registration clerk for every parish within his district con- taining number of inhabitants, or for every two or more parishes if united for the purposes of this Act; and that in all cases he be responsible for the just fulfilment of the duties of such clerks. VI. That he also see that proper balloting places, and such other erections as may be necessary, be provided by each parish (or any number that may be united) and that the balloting boxes be made and provided according to the provisions of this Act. VII. That he receive the lists of voters from all the parishes in his district, in which lists shall be marked or specified the names of the persons who have been objected to by the regis- tration clerks or any other persons. VIII. That between the first of April and the first of May in each year, he shall hold open courts of adjudication at such a number of places within his district as he may deem neces- sary, of which courts (place and time of meeting) he shall cause due notice to be given in each parish of the district, and at the same time invite all persons who have made objections, and who have been objected to. And, after hearing the state- ments that may be made by both parties, he shall finally ad- judicate whether the voters' names be placed on the register or not. IX. That the returning officer shall then cause to be made out alphabetical lists of all the registered voters in all the parishes within his district ; which lists, signed and attested by himself, shall be used at all elections for the district. Such lists to be sold to the public at reasonably low prices. X. That the returning officer receive all nominations for the member of his district, as well as for the returning officer of his district, and shall give public notice of the same accord- ing to the provisions of this Act ; he shall also receive from the 217] APPENDIX B 217 Speaker of the House of Commons the orders for any new election, in case of the death or resignation of the member of the district, as well as the orders to superintend and conduct the election of any other district, in case of the death or resigna- tion of the returning officer of such district. XI. That the returning officer shall also receive the returns from all the parishes within his district, on the day of election ; and on the day following the election he shall proclaim the state of the ballot, as directed by this Act, and perform the several duties appertaining to his office, as herein made and provided. XII. That the returning officer be paid for fulfilling the duties of his office, the sum of per annum, as herein- after mentioned. XIII. That, upon a petition being presented to the House of Commons by at least one hundred qualified electors, against any returning officer,^ complaining of corruption in the exer- cise of his office, or of incapacity, such complaints shall be inquired into by a committee of the House, consisting of seven members ; and, on their report being read, the members present shall then determine whether such returning officer be or be not guilty, or be or be not incapacitated. XIV. That, for conducting the first elections after the pass- ing of this Act, a returning officer for each district be tem- porarily appointed by the Secretary of State, to perform the duties prescribed by this Act. He shall resign his office as soon as the new one is appointed, and be paid as hereinafter mentioned. — See Penalties. DEPUTY RETURNING OFFICER, AND HIS DUTIES I. Be it enacted, that a deputy returning officer be appointed by the district returning officer to preside at each balloting place on the day of election, such deputy to be subject and responsible to his authority, as well as to the provisions of this Act. * The revised " Charter " reads : " at least one hundred qualified elec- tors of the district, against any returning officer of the same." 2i8 APPENDIX B [218 II. That it be the duty of the deputy returning officer to provide a number of competent persons, not exceeding , to aid him in taking the ballot, and for performing the neces- sary business thereof. III. That the deputy returning officer shall see that proper registration lists are provided, and that the ballot begin at six o'clock in the morning precisely, and end at six o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. IV. That the deputy returning officer, in the presence of the agents of the candidates, examine and seal the balloting- boxes previous to the commencement of the balloting ; he shall, in like manner, declare the number of votes for each candidate, and shall cause a copy, signed by himself, to be forwarded to the returning officer of the district, and another copy to the registration clerk of the parish. V. That the deputy returning officer be paid for his services as hereinafter mentioned. — See Penalties. THE REGISTRATION CLERK, HIS DUTIES I. Be it enacted, that a registration clerk be appointed by the district returning officer for every parish within his dis- trict containing inhabitants ; or for every two or more parishes that may be united for the purposes of this Act ; such clerk to be responsible to his authority, as well as to the pro- visions of this Act. II. That for the purpose of obtaining a correct registration of all the voters in each electoral district, the registration clerk of every parish, as aforesaid, throughout the kingdom, shall, on or before the ist of February in each year, take or cause to be taken round to every dwelling house ^ in his parish, a printed notice of the following form : Mr. John Jones, you are hereby required, within six days from the date hereof, to fill up this list with the names of all male inhabitants of your house, of 21 years of age, and upwards; stating their respec- * The revised "Charter" reads: "to every dwelling-house, poor- house, or union-workhouse in his parish." 219] APPENDIX B 219 tive ages, and the time they have resided with you; or, in neglect thereof, to forfeit the sum of one pound. ^ A. B., Registration Clerk. Name. Address. Age. Time of Residence. John Jones. 6 Upper North Place. 21 years. 3 months. N. B. — This list will be called for at the expiration of six days from this date. III. That, at the expiration of six days, as aforesaid, the registration clerk shall collect, or cause to be collected, the aforesaid lists, and shall cause to be made out from them an alphabetical list of all persons who are of the proper age and residence to qualify them as voters, according to the provisions of this Act. IV. That if the registration clerk shall have any just reason to believe that the names, ages, or time of residence of any persons inserted in the aforesaid list are falsely entered, or not in accordance with the provisions of this Act, he shall write the words " objected to " opposite such names; and so in like manner against the names of every person he may have just reason to consider ineligible, according to the provisions of this Act. V. That on or before the 8th of March in each year, the registration clerk shall cause the aforesaid alphabetical list of voters to be stuck against all church and chapel doors, market- houses, town-halls, session-houses,^ and such other conspicuous places as he may deem necessary, from the 8th of March till the 22nd. He shall also cause a copy of such list to lie at his office, to be perused by any person without a fee, at all * The revised "Charter" reads: "the sum of one pound for every name omitted." * The revised " Charter " added : " poor houses, union workhouses." 220 APPENDIX B [220 reasonable hours; and copies of the said list shall be sold to the public at a reasonably low price. VI. That, on or before the 25th of March, the registration clerk shall take, or cause to be taken a copy of the aforesaid list of voters to the returning officer of his district, which list shall be signed by himself, and be presented as a just and impartial list, according to his judgment, of all persons with- in his parish who are eligible according to their claims, as well as of all those who have been objected to by himself or other persons. VII. That the registration clerk shall attend the court of adjudication, according to the notice he shall receive from the returning officer, to revise his list, and shall perform all the duties of his office as herein provided. VIII. That the registration clerk be paid for his services in the manner hereinafter mentioned. ARRANGEMENT FOR REGISTRATION I. Be it enacted, that every householder, as well as every person occupying or having charge of a dwelling-house,^ who shall receive a notice from the registration clerk as aforesaid, shall cause the said notice to be correctly filled up with the names, ages, and time of residence of every male inmate or inhabitant of his or her house, of twenty-one years of age and upwards, within six days of the day of the date of such notice, and shall carefully preserve the same till it is called for by the registration clerk, or his proper officer. II. That when the list of voters is made out from these notices, and stuck on the church doors, ^ as aforesaid, any person who finds his name not inserted in the list, and who believes he is duly qualified as a voter, shall, on presenting to the registration clerk a notice in the following form, have his name added to the list of voters : 1 The revised " Charter " reads : " poor house, or union workhouse ". 2 The revised " Charter " added : " and places." 22 1 ] APPENDIX B 221 I, John Jones, carpenter, residing at in the district of being twenty one years of age, and having resided at the above place during the last three months, require to be placed on the list of voters, as a quahfied elector for the said district. III. That any person who is quahfied as a voter in any electoral district, and shall have removed to any other parish within the said district, on presenting to the registration clerk of the parish he then resides in, his voter's certificate as proof of this, or the written testimony of any registration clerk who has previously registered him, he shall be entitled to be placed on the list of voters as aforesaid. IV. That if an elector of any parish in the district have any just grounds for believing that any person disqualified by this Act has been put upon any parish register within the said district, he may, at any reasonable hour, between the ist and the 20th day of March, cause the following notices to be de- livered ; the one at the residence of the registration clerk, and the other at the residence of the person objected to; and the registration clerk shall, in like manner, send notice of the ground of objection to all persons he may object to, as afore- said: To the Registration Clerk. I, William Smith, elector of the parish of in the district •of object to A. B. being on the register of voters, believing him to be disqualified. Dated this day, etc. To the person objected to." Mr. A. B. of I, William Smith, elector of the parish of in the district of object to your name being on the register of voters for the following reasons: — (here state the reasons) — and I will support my objections by proofs before the Re- turning Officer of the District. Dated this day, etc. V. That if the person thus objecting neglect to attend the court of the returning officer at the proper time, to state his 222 APPENDIX B [222 objections, he shall be fined ten shillings for every such neglect, the same to be levied on his goods and chattels; provided he is not prevented from attending by sickness or accident, in which case his medical certificate, or a certificate signed by ten voters certifying such fact, shall be forwarded to the returning officer, who shall then determine whether the claim to be put on the register be allowed or not. VI. That if the person objected to fails to attend the court of the returning officer at the proper time, to substantiate his claim, his name shall be erased from the register, provided he is not prevented by sickness or accident ; in which case a certi- ficate shall be forwarded, and the returning officer shall deter- mine, as before directed. VII. That if it should be proved before the returning officer, in his open court of adjudication, that any person has frivo- lously or vexatiously objected to any one being placed on the list of voters, such person objecting shall be fined twenty shill- ings, the same to be levied on his goods and chattels.^ VIII. That, as early as possible after the lists are revised as aforesaid, the returning officer shall cause a copy of the same to be forwarded to every registration clerk within his district. IX. That the registration clerk of every parish shall then correctly copy from such lists the name, age, and residence of every qualified elector within his parish or parishes, into a book made for that purpose, and shall place a number opposite each name. He shall then, within days, take, or cause to be taken, to all such electors, a voter s certificate of the following form, the number on which shall correspond with the number in the aforesaid book : No. 123. This is to certify that James Jones, of is eligible to vote for one person to be returned to Parliament (as well as for the Returning Officer) for the district of for one year from the date hereof. Dated Registration Clerk. * The revised " Charter " provides for a fine of " twenty shillings and expenses, the same to be levied on his goods and chattels, and paid to the person objected to." 223] APPENDIX B 223 X. That if any person lose his voter's certificate by fire, or any other accident, he shall not have a new certificate till the next registration; but on the day of any election, if he can establish his identity, on the testimony of two witnesses, to the satisfaction of the registration clerk, as being the qualified voter described in the registration book, he shall be allowed to vote. XL That the returning officer is hereby authorized and com- manded to attach any small parishes to any adjacent parish ^ within his district for the purposes of this Act, and not other- wise; and in like manner to unite all extra-parochial places to some adjacent parish. — See Penalties. ARRANGEMENT FOR NOMINATIONS I. Be it enacted, that for the purpose of guarding against too great a number, who might otherwise be heedlessly proposed, as well as for giving time for the electors to inquire into the merits of the persons who may be nominated for members of Parliament, as well as for returning officers, that all nomin- ations be taken as hereinafter directed. II. That for all general elections of members of Parliament a requisition of the following form, signed by at least one hun- dred qualified electors of the district, be delivered to the re- turning officer of the district, between the ist and loth day of May in each year; and that such requisition constitute the nomination of such person as a candidate for the district : We, the undersigned electors of the district of recommend A. B. of as a fit and proper person to represent the people of this district in the Commons' House of Parliament, the said A. B. being a qualified elector of these realms.^ Dated, etc. Signed. III. That the returning officer of every electoral district ^ The italicized phrase was omitted in the revised " Charter." * The revised "Charter" reads: "the said A. B. being qualified to be an elector according to the provisions of this Act. 224 APPENDIX B [224 shall, on or before the 13th of May in each year, cause a list of all the candidates thus nominated to be stuck up against all church and chapel doors, market-houses, town-halls, session- houses,^ and such other conspicuous places within the district as he may deem necessary. IV. That whenever a vacancy is occasioned in any district by the death, resignation, or other cause, of the member of Parliament, the returning officer of that district shall, within three days after the receipt of his orders from the Speaker of the House of Commons, give notice thereof in all the parishes of his district in the manner described for giving notices, and he shall at the same time request all nominations to be made as aforesaid, within ten days from the receipt of his order, and shall also appoint the day of election within eighteen days from the receipt of such order from the Speaker of the House of Commons. V. That if, from any circumstances, no person has been nominated as a candidate for the district on or before the loth of May, persons may then be nominated in the manner de- scribed as aforesaid at any time previous to the 20th of May, but not otherwise.^ VI. That at the first election after the passing of this Act, and at the expiration of every three succeeding years, the nomination of candidates for the returning officer be made in the same manner as for the members of Parliament, and nominations for vacancies that may occur in like manner. VII. That if two or more persons are nominated as afore- said for members to serve in Parliament for the district, the returning officer shall, at any time between the 15th and 31st of May, (Sundays excepted), appoint such times and places (not exceeding ) as he shall think most convenient to the electors of the district for the candidates to appear be- * In the revised " Charter." " poor-houses, and union workhouses " were added. ' The revised " Charter " reads : " but not after that date." ' The revised " Charter " reads : " at the expiration of every year." 225] APPENDIX B 225 fore them, then and there to explain their views and soHcit the suffrages of the electors. VIII. That the returning officer see that the places above described be convenient for the purpose, and that as many such erections be put up as may be necessary; the same to be paid for by the returning officer, and charged in his account as hereinafter mentioned. IX. That for the purpose of keeping good order and public decorum, the returning officer either take the chair at such meeting himself, or appoint a deputy for that purpose. X. That, provided only one candidate be proposed for a member of Parliament for the district by the time herein before mentioned, the returning officer cause notice to be given, as hereinafter mentioned, that such candidate is elected a member for the district; and if only one candidate be proposed for the returning officer, he shall in like manner be declared duly elected. XL That no other qualification shall be required for mem- bers to serve in the Commons' House of Parliament, than the choice of the electors.^ — See Penalties. ARRANGEMENT FOR ELECTIONS I. Be it enacted, that a general election of members of Parliament, for the electoral districts of the United Kingdom, take place on the first Monday in June in each year ; and that all vacancies, by death or otherwise, shall be filled up as nearly as possible within eighteen days after they occur. II. That a general election of returning officer for all the districts take place at the expiration of every three years on the first Monday in June, and at the same time members of * The revised " Charter " provides : " XI. That no other quaHfication shall be required than the choice of the electors, according to the pro- visions of this Act; providing that no persons, excepting the cabinet ministers, be eligible to serve in the Commons' House of Parliament who are in the receipt of any emolument derivable from any place or places held under Government, or of retired allowances arising there- from." 226 APPENDIX B [226 Parliament are to be elected ; and that all vacancies be filled up, as nearly as possible, within eighteen days after they occur. III. That every person who has been registered as aforesaid, and who has a voter's certificate, shall have the right of voting in the district in which he has been registered, and in that only, and of voting for the member of Parliament for that district, and the returning officer for the district, and for those only. IV. That, for the purpose of taking the votes of the quali- fied electors, the parish officer in every parish of the district (or in every two parishes if united for that purpose) shall cause proper places to be privided, so as to admit of the arrangements described in Schedule A, and so constructed (either permanently or temporarily as they may think proper) that the votes may be taken with due despatch, and so as to secure the elector while voting from being inspected by any other person. V. That the parish officers of every parish in the district provide a sufficient number of balloting-boxes, made after a model described in Schedule B (or made on one plan by per- sons appointed to make them, as was the case with weights and measures), and none but such boxes, duly certified, shall be used. YI. That immediately preceeding the commencement of the balloting, each ballot-box shall be opened by the deputy re- turning officer (or otherwise examined, as the case may be), in the presence of an agent appointed by each candidate, and shall then be sealed by him and by the agents of the candidates, and not again be opened until the balloting has finally closed, when notice shall be given to such of the agents of the candi- dates as may then be present to attend to the opening of the boxes and ascertaining the number of votes for each candidate. VII. That the deputy returning officer preside in the front of the ballot-box, and see that the balloting is conducted with strict impartiality and justice ; and that the various clerks, assistants, and parish constables properly perform their re- spective duties, and that strict order and decorum be preserved among the friends of the candidates, as well as among all per- 227] APPENDIX B 22/ sons employed in conducting the election ; and he is hereby authorized and empowered to cause all persons to be taken into custody who interrupt the proceedings of the election, seek to contravene the provisions of this Act, or fail to obey his lawful authority. VIII. That during the time the balloting is going on, two agents of each candidate may be in the space fronting the ballot-box, and immediately behind the deputy returning officer, in order that they may see that the election is fairly conducted ; such persons to be provided by the deputy returning officer with cards of admission, and to pass in and out by the entrance as- signed them. IX. That the registration clerk of every parish in the dis- trict, who has been appointed for the purposes of registration, be at the balloting place, in the station assigned him, previously to the commencement of the balloting, and see that no person pass on to the balloting place till he has examined his certifi- cate and seen that it corresponds with the registration list. X. That the parish constables and the officers stationed at the entrance of the balloting place, shall not permit any person to enter unless he shows his voter's certificate, except the per- sons employed in conducting the election, or those persons who have proved the loss of their voter's certificate. XI. That at the end of every three years,^ or whenever the returning officer is elected at the same time as the member for the district, a division shall be made in the balloting places, and the boxes and balloting so arranged as to ensure the can- didates the strictest impartiality and justice, by preventing the voter from giving two votes for either of the candidates. XII. That on the day of election, the balloting commence at six o'clock in the forenoon and terminate at six o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. XIII. That when any voter's certificate is examined by the registration clerk, and found to be correct, he shall be allowed to pass on to the next barrier, where a balloting-ball shall be ^ The revised " Charter " reads : " at the end of every year." 228 APPENDIX B [228 given him by the person appointed for that purpose; he shall then pass on to the balloting box, and, with all due despatch, shall put the balloting-ball into the aperture opposite the name ^ of the candidate he wishes to vote for, after which he shall, without delay, leave the room by the door assigned for the purpose. XIV. That, at the close of the balloting, the deputy return- ing officer, in the presence of the agents of the candidates and other persons present, shall break open the seals of the ballot- ing-boxes, and ascertain the number for each candidate; he shall then cause copies of the same to be publicly posted outside the balloting place; and immediately forward (by a trusty messenger) a copy of the same, signed by himself and the agents present, to the returning officer of the district; he shall then deliver a similar copy to the registration clerk, who shall carefully preserve the same, and produce it if necessary. XV. That the persons employed as assistants, for inspecting the certificates and attending on the balloting, be paid as here- inafter mentioned. XV^I. That all the expense of registration, nominations and election, as aforesaid, together with the salaries of the return- ing officers, registration clerk, assistants, constables, and such other persons as may be necessary, as well as the expense of all balloting places, balloting-boxes, hustings, and other neces- saries for the purposes of this Act, be paid out of an equitable district rate, which a District Board, composed of one parochial officer chosen by each of the parishes in the district, or for any two or more parishes, if united for the purposes of this Act, are hereby empowered and commanded to levy on all householders within the district. XVIII. That all expenses necessary for the purposes of this Act incurred within the district be paid by the District Board as aforesaid, or their treasurer ; that the salaries of all officers and assistants required for the purposes of this Act, be fixed ' The revised " Charter " reads : " into the box of the candidate." 229] APPENDIX B 229 and paid by the said Board, according to the expenses and duties of the various localities.^ XVIII. That all accounts of receipts and expenditure for electoral purposes shall be kept distinct, and be audited by auditors appointed by the District Board, as aforesaid ; copies of which accounts shall be printed for the use of the respective parishes in the district. XIX. That all canvassing for members of Parliament, as well as for returning officers, is hereby declared to be illegal, and meetings for that purpose during the balloting, on the day of election, are hereby also declared to be illegal. — See Penalties. DUILVnON OF PARLIAMENT I. Be it enacted, that the Members of the House of Com- mons, chosen as aforesaid, shall meet on the first Monday in June in each year, and continue their sittings from time to time as they may deem it convenient, till the first Monday in June following, when the next new Parliament shall be chosen ; they shall be eligible to be re-elected. II. That during an adjournment they be liable to be called together by the executive in cases of emergency. III. That a register be kept of the daily attendance of each member, which, at the close of the session, shall be printed as a sessional paper, showing how the members have attended. PAYMENT OF MEMBERS I. Be it enacted, that every member of the House of Com- mons, be entitled, at the close of the session, to a writ of ex- ' The Committee having considered that, as the duties and expenses of all these various offices will greatly vary, according to their local- ities, it will be unwise to have a sum fixed by Parliament and paid out of the treasury. Believing, moreover, that a just system of representa- tion will soon purify the local corruptions that exist, they think that the united expenditure will be much less under the immediate superin- tendence of the local authorities, when responsible to the people, than under the management of government and their subordiate agents. 230 APPENDIX B [230 penses on the Treasury, for his legislative duties in the public service, and shall be paid £500 ^ per annum.- PENALTIES I. Be it enacted, that if any person cause himself to be registered in more than one electoral district, and vote in more than one such district, upon conviction thereof before any two justices of the peace within either of such districts, he shall incur for the first offence the penalty of three months' im- prisonment, and for the second offence twelve months' im- prisonment. II. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid of wilfully neglecting to fill up his or her notice within the proper time, or of leaving out the name of any inmate in his or her notice, shall for the first offence incur the penalty of five pounds, and three months' imprisonment for the second offence.^ III. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid of forging any name, age, or time of residence on any notice, shall for the first offence incur the penalty of three months' imprisonment, and for the second offence be deprived of his elective rights for five years.* IV. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid, of having in any manner obtained the certificate of an elector ^ The amount was omitted in the revised " Charter." ^ The Committee understand that the daily payment of members of ParHament has operated beneficially in Canada ; but they fear that such mode of payment holds out a motive for lengthening the sessions un- necessarily; and if the time of sitting is limited by law, it may lead to too hasty legislation, both of which evils are obviated by an annual payment. 'The revised "Charter" reads: "the penalty of one pound for every name omitted, and for the second offence, incur the penalty of three months' imprisonment, and be deprived of his electoral rights for three years." * The revised "Charter" reads: "and for the second offence three months' imprisonment and be deprived of his elective rights for three years." 231] APPENDIX B 231 other than his own, and of having voted or attempted to vote by means of such false certificate, shall for the first offence incur the penalty of six months' imprisonment, and for the second offence six months' imprisonment, and be deprived of his elective rights for five years. ^ V. That any person who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, of having forged a voter's certificate, or of having forged the name of any person to any certificate ; or having voted or at- tempted to vote on such forged certificate; knowing such to have been forged, shall for the first offence incur the penalty of twelve months' imprisonment, and for the second offence twelve months' imprisonment, and be deprived of his elective rights for five years. ^ VI. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid, of having forged, or caused to be forged, the names of any voters to a requisition nominating a member of Parliament or a returning officer, shall for the first offence incur the penalty of three months' imprisonment, and twelve months for the second oft'ence.^ VII. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid of bribery, in order to secure his election, shall be subject for the first offence to incur the penalty of two years' imprison- ment, and for the second oft'ence shall be imprisoned two years, and be deprived of his elective rights for five years. VIII. That any agent of any candidate, or any other per- son, who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, of bribery at any election, shall be subject for the first offence to incur the penalty of twelve months' imprisonment, and for the second * The revised " Charter " fixes a penalty of three months for the first offence, and three months' imprisonment and the loss of elective rights for three years for the second offence. ^ In the revised " Charter " the term of imprisonment in both cases is reduced to three months, and the loss of elective rights to three years. ' The revised " Charter " reads : " and for the second ofifence three months' imprisonment, and to be deprived of his elective rights for three years." 232 APPENDIX B [232 offence twelve months" imprisonment, and be deprived of his elective rights for five years. IX. That any person w^ho shall be convicted, as aforesaid, of going from house to house, or place to place, to solicit in any way votes in favor of any member of Parliament ^ or re- turning officer, after the nomination as aforesaid, shall for the first ofTence incur the penalty of one month's imprisonment, and for the second offence two months'. X. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid of calling together, or causing an election meeting to be held in any district during the day of election, shall for the first offence incur the penalty of three months' imprisonment, and for the second offence six months. XI. That any person who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, of interrupting the balloting, or the business of the election, shall incur the penalty of three months' imprisonment for the first offence, and six months' for the second. XII. That if any messenger, who may be sent with the state of the ballot to the returning officer, or with any other notice, shall wilfully delay the same, or in any way by his consent or conduct cause the same to be delayed, on conviction as aforesaid, shall incur the penalty of six months' imprison- ment. XIII. That any returning officer who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, of having neglected to appoint proper officers as directed by this Act, to see that proper balloting places and balloting boxes are provided, and to give the notices and per- form the duties herein required of him, shall forfeit for each such neglect the sum of £20. XIV. That if any returning officer be found gulty by the House of Commons of bribery or corrupt practices in the execution of any of the duties herein assigned to him, he shall incur the penalty of twelve months' imprisonment, and be deprived of his elective rights for five years.- ' The revised "Charter" reads: "in favor of any candidate for Par- liament." '■* The italicized words were omitted in the revised "Charter." 233] APPENDIX B 233 XV. That if any deputy returning officer be convicted, as aforesaid, of having neglected to perform any of the duties herein assigned him, he shall forfeit for such neglect three pounds. XVI. That if any deputy returning officer be convicted, as aforesaid, of bribery or corrupt practices in the execution of the duties of his office, he shall incur the penalty of six months' imprisonment, and the deprivation of his elective rights for five years. ^ XVII. That if any registration clerk be convicted, as afore- said, of having neglected to perform any of the duties herein assigned him, he shall forfeit for each such neglect five pounds. XVIII. That if any registration clerk be convicted, as afore- said, of bribery or corrupt practices in the execution of the duties of his office, he shall incur the penalty of six months' imprisonment, and the deprivation of his elective rights for five years. ^ XIX. That if the parochial officers in any parish neglect or refuse to comply with any of the provisions of this Act, they shall forfeit for every such neglect the sum of £50.^ XX. That all fines and penalties incurred under the pro- visions of this Act, be recoverable before any two justices of the peace, within the district where the offence shall have been committed, and in default of payment, the said justices shall issue their warrant of distress against the goods and chattels of the offender; or in default of sufficient distress, he shall be imprisoned three months.* N. B. — All Acts and parts of Acts relating to registration, nominations, or elections, as well as duration of Parliament and sittings of members, must be repealed.^ ' The revised " Charter " reads : " three years." "^ The revised " Charter " provides for deprivation of rights for three years. ^ The revised " Charter " reads : " or, in default of payment, twelve months' imprisonment." * The revised " Charter " reads : " shall be imprisoned according to the provisions of this Act." ' The revised " Charter " reads : " are hereby repealed." APPENDIX C " National Petition " Unto the Honorable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled^ the Petition of the undersigned, their suffering countrymen, " Humbly Sheweth, " That we, your petitioners, dwell in a land whose merchants are noted for enterprise, whose manufacturers are very skil- ful, and whose workmen are proverbial for their industry. " The land itself is goodly, the soil rich, and the temperature wholesome ; it is abundantly furnished with the materials of commerce and trade ; it has numerous and convenient harbors ; in facility of internal communication it exceeds all others. " For three-and-twenty years we have enjoyed a profound peace. " Yet, with all these elements of national prosperity, and with every disposition and capacity to take advantage of them, we find ourselves overwhelmed with public and private suffering. " We are bowed down under a load of taxes ; which, not- withstanding, fall greatly short of the wants of our rulers ; our traders are trembling on the verge of bankruptcy; our workmen are starving; capital brings no profit, and labor no remuneration; the home of the artificer is desolate, and the warehouse of the pawnbroker is full ; the workhouse is crowded, and the manufactory is deserted. " We have looked on every side, we have searched diligently in order to find out the causes of a distress so sore and so long continued. " We can discover none in nature, or in Providence. 234 [234 235] APPENDIX C 235 " Heaven has dealt graciously by the people ; but the fool- ishness of our rulers has made the goodness of God of none effect. " The energies of a mighty kingdom have been wasted in building up the power of selfish and ignorant men, and its resources squandered for their aggrandisement. " The good of a party has been advanced to the sacrifice of the good of the nation ; the few have governed for the interest of the few, while the interest of the many has been neglected, or insolently and tyrannously trampled upon. " It was the fond expectation of the people that a remedy for the greater part, if not for the whole, of their grievances, would be found in the Reform Act of 1832. " They were taught to regard that Act as a wise means to a worthy end; as the machinery of an improved legislation, when the will of the masses would be at length potential. " They have been bitterly and basely deceived. " The fruit which looked so fair to the eye has turned to dust and ashes when gathered. " The Reform Act has effected a transfer of power from one domineering faction to another, and left the people as helpless as before. " Our slavery has been exchanged for an apprenticeship to liberty, which has aggravated the painful feeling of our social degradation, by adding to it the sickening of still deferred hope. " We come before your Honorable House to tell you, with all humility, that this state of things must not be permitted to continue; that it cannot long continue without very seriously endangering the stability of the throne and the peace of the kingdom ; and that if by God's help and all lawful and consti- tutional appliances an end can be put to it, we are fully re- solved that it shall speedily come to an end. " We tell your Honorable House that the capital of the master must no longer be deprived of its due reward; that the laws which make food dear, and those which by making money scarce, make labor cheap, must be abolished ; that taxa- tion must be made to fall on property, not on industry ; that 236 APPENDIX C [236 the good of the many, as it is the only legitimate end, so must it be the sole study of the Government. " As a preliminary essential to these and other requisite changes ; as means by which alone the interests of the people can be effectually vindicated and secured, we demand that those interests be confided to the keeping of the people. " When the state calls for defenders, when it calls for money, no consideration of poverty or ignorance can be pleaded in refusal or delay of the call. " Required as we are, universally, to support and obey the laws, nature and reason entitle us to demand that in the mak- ing of the laws, the universal voice should be implicitly listened to. " We perform the duties of freemen ; we must have the privileges of freemen. " We demand universal suffrage. " The suffrage, to be exempt from the corruption of the wealthy and the violence of the powerful, must be secret. " The assertion of our right necessarily involves the power of its uncontrolled exercise. " We demand the ballot. " The connection between the representatives and the people, to be beneficial, must be intimate. " The legislative and constituent powers, for correction and for instruction, ought to be brought into frequent contact. " Errors which are comparatively light when susceptible of a speedy popular remedy, may produce the most disastrous effects when permitted to grow inveterate through years of compulsory endurance. " To public safety as well as public confidence, frequent elections are essential. " We demand annual parll\ments. " With power to choose, and freedom in choosing, the range of our choice must be unrestricted. " W^e are compelled, by the existing laws, to take for our representatives men who are incapable of appreciating our difficulties, or who have little s)Tnpathy with them ; merchants 237] APPENDIX C 237 who have retired from trade, and no longer feel its harassings ; proprietors of land who are alike ignorant of its evils and their cure ; lawyers, by whom the honors of the senate are sought after only as means of obtaining notice in the courts. " The labors of a representative who is sedulous in the dis- charge of his duty are numerous and burdensome. " It is neither just, nor reasonable, nor safe, that they should continue to be gratuitously rendered. " We demand that in the future election of members of your Honorable House the approbation of the constituency shall be the sole qualification ; and that to every representative so chosen shall be assigned, out of the public taxes, a fair and adequate remuneration for the time which he is called upon to devote to the pubHc service. " Finally, we would most earnestly impress on your Honor- able House that this petition has not been dictated by any idle love of change ; that it springs out of no inconsiderate attachment to fanciful theories; but that it is the result of much and long deliberation and of convictions, which the events of each succeeding year tend more and more to strengthen. " The management of this mighty kingdom has hitherto been a subject for contending factions to try their selfish ex- periments upon. " We have felt the consequences in our sorrowful experi- ence — short glimmerings of uncertain enjoyment swallowed up by long and dark seasons of suffering. " If the self-government of the people should not remove their distresses, it will at least remove their repinings. " Universal suffrage will, and it alone can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation ; we firmly believe that it will also bring prosperity. " May it, therefore, please your Honorable House to take this our petition into your most serious consideration ; and to use your utmost endeavors, by all constitutional means, to have a law passed granting to every male of lawful age, sane mind, and unconvicted of crime the right of voting for members of 238 APPENDIX C [238 Parliament; and directing all future elections of members of Parliament to be in the way of secret ballot; and ordaining that the duration of Parliaments so chosen shall in no case exceed one year; and abolishing all property qualifications in the members ; and providing for their due remuneration while in attendance on their Parliamentary duties. " And your petitioners, &c." APPENDIX D A Dialogue on War, Between a " Moral Force " Whig, AND A Chartist, by Bronterre ^ Quid Nunc: Well, Bronterre, so we are going to have a war at last. Bronterre: To have a war! You talk of war as if it were a possession, an acquisition, or a means of acquisition. But how do you know we are going to have a war ? Quid Nunc : Why, all the newspapers say so ; but you, it seems, don't like war. Bronterre: Don't like war! Why the deuce should I like war? Why should I like murder and robbery, for murder and robbery's sake ; and what is war but murder and robbery ? But whom are we going to war with? Quid Nunc : Ah ! that is not yet decided on. It may be with Russia, or with Canada, or with France, or for that matter, with all three. I only wish it may be with some of them, and soon : for allow me to say, I think differently of war from what you do. Wars are often just and necessary ; or why be at the expense of maintaining fleets and armies? Besides, a war is wanted just now, to give a stir, a fillip, a new impetus to the country. We never had such prosperity as during the American and French wars. Can you deny that? Bronterre : You perfectly astonish me ! You who pro- fess to be a thorough-going liberal, — a moral force man, — a march of intellect man, — a greatest happiness principle man, and so forth, you! to talk thus of zuar, as if it were mere pas- time, or a mere paltry commercial question of pounds, shill- 1 McDouaU's Chartist and Republican Journal, nos. 21 and 22, 1841. 239] 239 240 APPENDIX D [240 ings and pence. Hang me, my good friend, if I can at all comprehend your slaughtering liberality. As for the broken arms and broken legs — the bursting of bombs scattering death all around — the sacking and burning of whole towns and villages, and ravishing of wives and virgin daughters — whole fields strewn with dead bodies — hospitals crowded with agon- ized and dying wretches, and their hardly less wretched sur- vivors, exposed to every imaginable hardship and privation — exposed to the war of elements as well as the war of bombs and muskets — and often obliged to feed on cats, rats, and stinking horse-flesh ; and as for these and the like pretty incidents of war, they evidently form no item of your profit- and-loss account. You are too liberal, I suppose, or too much a man of the world to regard trifles of that sort, more es- pecially as you can afford to keep your own carcase out of the way of the howitzers. But tell me, my good friend, how it happens, that you, being a disciple and admirer of Joseph Hume, make no distinction between fighting against Canada, and fighting against France or Russia? Do you mean to say it is quite indifferent to you with whom we go to war, pro- vided only that we give a " new fillip or impetus to the coun- try ? " Do you — Quid Nunc: Are you done? Bronterre: Go on. Quid Nunc: By jingo, Bronterre, if I did not know you so well, and if you did not use " hell " and the " devil " so often, I should almost fancy you to be a Quaker, you have such a pious horror of war. But what use is there railing at what neither you nor I can prevent? There cannot be war, of course, without killing and wounding, but as there were wars before you and I were born, so believe me, there will be wars after you and I are dead. Now for your question, (and mind that you answer mine in turn), you ask why I, a liberal, make no distinction between fighting against Canada, and fighting against France and Russia? I do make a distinction. On political grounds, I should be sorry to see a war against the 241 ] APPENDIX D 241 Canadian insurgents, because I approve their cause; but I desire one on my brother's account, who being a saddler and harness maker, had recently a Government contract for the supply of saddles and harness for our Canadian troops, and who is promised another job or two if the war goes on. Now, having frankly answered your question, do you as frankly answer me those three: ist. If our Indian possessions be attacked by Russian intrigue and Russian arms, is it not your duty, and the duty of all true patriots to assist in de- fending them, and by zvar, if necessary? 2nd. If our Mexican trade be similarly endangered by France, or our Mediterranean trade by the same power, are we not similarly justified in defending both against France, and by zvar, if necessary? 3rd. If, in both these cases, you disapprove of war, in what case would you approve of it ; or would you, in all possible cases, and under all circumstances, dissuade the working classes from participating in war ? No declamation, now 1 But straight- forward answers. Bronterre: Well, then, I shall be as frank as you have been. To your first question I reply, — Let all who have pos- sessions in India, or all who profit by what you call our " Indian possessions ", be off to India, and fight a thousand battles for them, if they like. Let the proprietors of the East India Stock, let the owners of East India merchantmen, let those English and Irish merchants and brokers, and writers and underwriters, and governors and judges, and naval and military officers, and liver-colored nabobs, and all such other aristocrats and commercial speculators as have either wrung, or are now wringing, fortunes out of Hindoo sweat and misery — let all such persons go and fight for our " Indian possessions ", but let them not mock our degradation by asking us, working people, to fight along with them, either for our " possessions " in India, or anywhere else, seeing that we do not possess a single acre of ground, or any other description of property in our omm, country, much less colonies, or " pos- sessions ", in any other, having been robbed of everything we 242 APPENDIX D [242 ever earned, by tiie upper and middle classes. Let the parties I have described go and fight their own battles against Russia, who, for all we care, may seize " our Indian possessions " tomorrow if she likes. We, the working people of Great Britain and Ireland, have no interest whatever in defending those '* possessions ", nor any colonial possessions, nor any other description of possessions belonging to men who have robbed us of our political rights and franchises. On the con- trary, we have an interest in prospective loss or ruin of all such " possessions ", seeing they are but instruments of power in the hands of our domestic oppressors. Yes, yes, by all means, let Russia seize them, if she can, and we shall but thanlv God and Russia for the seizure. To your 2nd question, my reply is — I care not how soon France engrosses or destroys "our Mexican trade", nor to what extent her Algerine conquests may operate to the pre- judice of our commerce in the Levant or elsewhere. I should rather see the whole of that commerce utterly extinguished, than see one solitary working man lose a leg or an arm, in war, to defend it. As commerce is nov/ conducted, it is not only without profit, but it is absolutely ruinous to the pro- ductive classes of this country. When England had hardly any foreign commerce at all, (in the year 1495), an English laborer's weekly wages would buy 199 pints of wheat, and an artisan's weekly wages 292 pints of wheat. We have now more foreign trade than any other three nations in the world, and, at least one hundred times more of it than we had in 1495 ; yet an English laborer's weekly wages will not bring him, in this present year, more than 80 or 90 pints of wheat, and an artisan's hardly 150 pints; not to speak of the difficulty of getting employment, — a difficulty unknown in 1495. Talk of our foreign trade, indeed ! And fighting for it, too ! Let those who profit by it go and fight for it. L^t the merchants and shipowners, and big manufacturers and capitalists, who gain rapid fortunes by it, let these persons go and fight for it. Or let our aristocracy, to whom it brings tropical fruits, and oriental perfumes, and rich furs and cashmeres, and pearls 243] APPENDIX D 243 and pieces, and shells and turtle, and delicious wines, and cordials, and ivory and lace, and silks and satins, and turkey carpets, and Chinese ornaments, and birds of paradise, etc., etc., let these parties go and fight for it. To us, the working people, it brings next to nothing in exchange for the forty or fifty millions' worth of goods we are every year sending abroad. The only commodities the working class want from abroad are necessaries, and these are excluded by our Corn Laws. No, no, Mr. Quid Nunc! If Englishmen are to fight now-a-days, it must be for something better than you imagine. But no fighting for " our foreign trade " ! No fighting for it at any rate until we have obtained our political rights and reformed our commercial system. I am no enemy of com- merce, if commerce means what it ought to mean; but perdi- tion, eternal perdition to the system which, under that name, is now impoverishing and brutalising the largest and best part of the human family. To your 3d question my reply is — I have so inveterate and mortal an antipathy to war (regarding it as but another name for murder and robbery on a large scale), that only the direst necessity could induce me to be, under any circumstances, its advocate ; yet, there is one great barbarous Power in Europe against which I should gladly see a war got up even this very day. Quid Nunc: You mean Russia? Bronterre: Softly, my good Sir. I mean a power more barbarous and barbarising than all other living despotisms put together, that of Russia included. Quid Nunc : By the ghost of Nicholas ! that is impossible ; but name it. Bronterre : I will neither name it nor describe it. You being a disciple of Hume and Grote, and I being the very antipodes of that school, we cannot possibly understand one another. Were I simply to name it — you would laugh out- right, and to describe it 1 am incapable. But, as I perceive 244 APPENDIX D [244 your curiosity is on the rack I will leave a copy of the last week's Northern Liberator, and from its leading article you may possibly be able to form some faint idea of the power I allude to. Farewell ! The article referred to describes the English ruling classes as " more despotic than despotism." Enumerating the evil effects of the Corn Laws, the New Poor Law, the factory system, the lack of universal suffrage, and the like, Bronterre concludes his philippic in his characteristic style : Could despotism do more than fill the country with starva- tion, poverty, tears, and blood ; could despotism do more than cover it with prisons, police houses, correction houses, peni- tentiaries, and Poor Law bastiles, where cruelties the most atrocious and crimes the most unnatural are perpetrated upon the wretched people by the horrid officials of these dens ; could despotism the most devilish do more than treat a people thus, and then systematically refuse to listen to their complaints, and treat their tears with menaces and their cries with abusive calamities ; in short, could the despotism of Nero, Tiberius, Helagabalus and Herod, joined in one, do more than invert and remorselessly carry into execution such a system as nozv exists in England? . . . Men of England, and of Scotland, and of Ireland ! will you ever again shed your blood in de- fence of such a system? If you do, you deserve more than you have already suffered. But I wrong you by the question. I forget, at the moment, that by recent demonstrations in favor of Chartism you had virtually sealed the doom of that system. Your long and bloody anti-Jacobin war against France was the last you will ever engage in to uphold exclusive govern- ment. Henceforth if you go to war, it shall be to fight for yourselves. No more anti- Jacobin ivars! No coalition min- istry! No Tory-strong government! That's the ticket. INDEX Aitken, William, 138 Ashley, Lord, 70, 71, 73 Attwood, Thomas, leader of Birming- ham Political Union, 36, 120; his view of the Reform Act, 37; opposi- tion to New Poor Law, 43, 44; life and views, 120, 121, 180, 182; his plan of a sacred mouth, 139; and the National Petition, 153, 165, 179, 180, 183; and the Manifesto, 170 Babeuf, 113, 118, 119 Bamford, Samuel, 31 Bank of England, 173 Bedchamber Plot, 40 Benbow, William, 205 Benefit clubs, 32, 75 Beniowski, Major, 151 Bentham, Jeremy, 63 Birmingham Currency School, 120 Birmingham yournal. The, 153 Birmingham Political Union, 36,91,92, 120, 139, 142, 153 Birmingham Town Council on the Bull Ring attack, 186 Botanical meetings, 32 Bowring, Dr., 91 Boycott, 170 British Association for Promoting Co- operative Knowledge, 102 Bronterre on the Reform Bill, 37; on the New Poor Law, 50, 51, 69; on universal suffrage, 81, 82, 84, 114; on the petition of the London Work- ingmen's Association, 89, 90; on th eo r e tical difterences, loi; and O'Connor, 107, 108; life and views, 112-120, 123: Nationalization of land, 115; and Lovett, 114, 120; and Harney, 133, 159; on previous peti- tions, 82, 154; and the General Con- vention, 157; on physical force, 158, 172; at public demonstrations, 172, 173; on the sacred month, 183, 185; sentenced, 205 Brougham, Lord, on the Whig rule, 39, 40; and the New Poor Law, 52, 53, 141; on behalf of Lovett, 178; on behalf of John Frost, 203 245] Bull Ring, 175, 176, 186, 387; riote 176, 178, 188, 189 Buonarroti, 1 13, 118, 1 19 Burdett, Francis, 26, 120 Burke, Edmund, 24, 25, 28 Byron, 140 Campbell, John, Attorney-General, 202, 203 Carlyle, Thomas, 21, 39, 54, 55, 206 Carpenter's Political Pamphlets, 113 Cartwright, John, 23, 24 Central Committee of radical unions, 106 Chamber of Commerce, 80 Child Labor, 73, 74, iii Cleave, John, 84, 89, 91, 158 Cobbett, William, 28-31; opposi- tion to New Poor Law, 43, 50, 53, 66, 67; maltreated, 76; on the issue of the working class, 81; and Att- wood, 121; and Frost, 137 Collective bargaining, right of, 77 Collins, John, 177, 186-9 Combination Laws, 75 Communism, 109 Consolidated National Trades Union, 104 Constitutional Society, 23 Cooper, Thomas, 107 Corn Laws, 27, 34, 63, 182 Crime, 66, 67, 74 Cromwell, 22 Crawford, W. S. 90, 91, 95 Crown and Anchor meetings, 90, 158, 164 Demonstrations, 32, 139, 140, 142, 143, 146-149, 153, 172, 173, 189 Destructive, The, 1 1 3 Disraeli on the Whig rule, 40; opposi- tion to New Poor Law, 43; on the National Petition, 179, 182, 183 Distress, 28, 55-69, 93, 98, 138 Douglas, R. iC., 153 Duke of Richmond, 23-6 Dundee Advertiser, The, 150 Dwelling conditions, 57, 58, 66 245 246 INDEX Edgeworth, Lowell, 112 Elliot, Ebenezer, 59 Emigration, 56, 57 Fennell, Alfred Owen, 175 Fielden, John, 91, 147 Foreign Affairs Committee, 138 Fowle, F. W. 47 Fox, Charles James, 24, 27 French Encyclopedists, 23 French Revolution, 24, 25, 33, 134, 153, 157, 181, 193 Frost, John, life and views, 136-137; and the Crown and Anchor meeting, J 58, 164; and Lord Russell, 162-165; and public demonstrations, 173; on the sacred month, 183; seeking miti- gation of Vincent's treatment, 190, 191; and the Newport Riot, 191, 192, 195-7, 199; last public letter, 192- 194; trial and sentence, 200, 201, 204; pardoned, 204 General Convention of the Industrious Classes, 143-186 General Council of the Convention, 185 General strike, see sacred month Godwin, William, 77 Goulburn, Sergeant, 187, 188 Grand National Consolidated Trades Union, 80 Gray, John, 77 Habeas corpus act, 27, 31 Hall, Charles, 77 Hampden Club, 28, 30, 31 Harcourt, Maurice, 47 Hardy, Thomas, 26 Harney, George Julian, prominent member of trade unions, 84; his life and views, 132-134; at torch light meetings, 148; and the General Con- vention, 157; at the Crown and Anchor meeting, 158; on Chartist elections, 159, 160; on the ulterior measures, 170; at public demonstra- tions, 172; in the riot-week, 178 Harvey, D. W. 91 Hetherington, Henry, 84, 87, 89, 91, 95, 121, 158 Hindley, Charles, 91 Hodgskin, Thomas, 77 Holloway Head, 178 Holyoake, George Jacob, 105, 108, 139, 150, i6i, 178 House of Lords, reform of, 91 Hume, Joseph, 90 Hunt, Henry, 32, 35, 36, 76, 112 Industrial Revolution, 74 Irish famine, 55; emigration, 56 Jacobinism, 26, ill Jones, William, 195, 199, 201, 204 Kay, James P., 47, 60, 72 Labor legislation, 70, 71 Leader, J. T., 90, 91, 204) Levellers, 22, 25 Lock-outs, 80 London Cooperative Trading Associa- tion, 102 London Corresponding Society, 26-27 London Democrat, The, 133, 151, 152, 159, 170 London Democratic Association, no, III, 133, 157 London Mercury, The, 113 London Times, The, 49 London Working Men's Association, 84, 88, 89, 98, 99, 104, 106, no, 120, 121, 122, 137, 143, 156; addresses, 86, 87, 91, 92-95, 100, 129, 145; pe- tition for new Constitution, 89; Crown and Anchor meeting, 90; and the committee of twelve, 91, 95; and the Chartist agitation, 97, 135, 140; and Stephens, 129; influence on the wane, 146 Lovett, William, prominent member of trade unions, 84; on the London Working Men's Association, 86; sec- retary of the L. W. M. A., 87; author of the petition of the L. W. M. A., 90; at theCrown and Anchor meeting, 90, 91; correspondence with Lord Rus- sell, 92, 93; author of the People's Charter, 95, 104; life and views, 102- 105; and O'Connor, 107, 192; and Bronterre, 114; and Hetherington, I2i; and Stephens, 122, 129; his res- olution at the Palace Yard meeting, 145; and the General Convention, 156-158; secretary of the General Convention, 156; on the Manifesto, 170; his arrest, 177; his trial and defence, 186, 187, 188; his imprison- ment, 189, 190; on the Newport Riot, 191, 192 McDouall, 176 Macerone, Colonel, 151 INDEX 247 Manchester Massacre, 32 Manifesto of the General Convention, 166-168, 170 Marat, iii, 133, 156 Marsden, Richard, 156 Melbourne, Lord, 36, 61, 203 Metropolitan police, 176, 179, 187 Metropolitan Political Union, 103 Mill, James, 47 Monetary reform, see Attwood Moore, R., 91 Moral force, 99, 120, 122, 142, 153, (sec also Lovett) Morning Chronicle, 188 Mortality, 65, 66 National Petition, 143, 145, 153-159, 165, 174, 179-183 National Political Union, 33, 36 National Reformer, The, see Bronterre National Union of the Working Classes, 35. 104 Nationalization of land, loi, 115 Newport Riot, 190-192, 194-199, 206 North, Lord, 24 Northern Star, The, 107, 108, 112, 113, 152 O'Brien, see Bronterre O'Connell, Daniel, on the New Poor Law, 44; and the People's Charter, 90, 91, 95; and O'Connor, 106 O'Connor, Feargus, on the New Poor Law and machinery, 51, 52, no; on Chartism, 70; life and views, 105- 112, 123; and Lovett, 107, 192; and Bronterre, 114; and Attwood, 121; and Stephens, 123; and Harney, 133; speeches, 141-144; and the London Working Men's Association, 143; at public demonstrations, 146-148, 172- 3; and the General Convention, i!;8, 166, 172; on \.he sacred month, 185; and the Newport Riot, 192; sen- tenced, 205 O'Connor, Roderick, 105, 107 O'Connor, Roger, 105 Oastler, Richard, 70, 133 Operative, 7 he, 113 Owen, Robert, 77, 78, 80, 103, 1 18 Owenism, 78, 84 Paine, Thomas, 26-7, 137 Palace Yard demostration, 143, 149 People's Charter, publication of, 95, 97 Phillips, Thomas, mayor of Newport, 197, 200 Physical force, ico, in, 123, 132, 142- 4, I49, 152, 156, 170, 178. (See also Harney and Stephens) Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, 22 Pitt, William, 22, 24, 26, 27 Place, Francis, 36, 76, 78, 95, 102, 104, 106, 107, 123, 189 Pollack, Prederick, 203 Poor Law, New, 39, 40, 43, 55, 66, 68, 69, 81, 106, no. III, 123, 126, 129, 138, 141, 147, 153, 193 Poor Law, Old, 40, 42 Poor relief, 54, 68 Poor Afan's Guardian, The, 35, 1 13, 121 Prentice, Archibald, 61 Prorogation of Parliament, 91, 159 Reform bills, 22, 23, 24, 27 Reform Bill of 1832, 33, 35-37. 63, 92, 120, 175 Ricardo, 34 Riot Act, 176 Riots, 28, 31, 176, 202. (See Bull Ring and Newport Riot) Robespierre, ill, 113, 119 Roebuck, J. A., 72, 90, 91, 95, 107 Ratten House of Commons, The, 88, 89 Rotundism, 84, 104 Rousseau, 23 Russell, Lord John, hero of Reform Bill, 36, 39; "Finality Jack," 39; letter to, on children in the work- house, 48; correspondence with Lovett, 92, 93; on the torch -light demonstrations, 149; and John Frost 162-5; °" '^^ General Convention, 165; his letter to magistrates, 166; on the National Petition, 180-182 St. Just, III Sacred Month, 139, 142, 169, 173, 183-5 Sadler, Michael Thomas, 70 Scott, Walter, 112 Seligman, Edwin R. A., 9, 76, 78 Senior, Nassau W., on the old Poor Laws, 41 ; on dwelling conditions, 66; on hours of labor, 71, 72, 74; on labor combinations, 79 Shell, George, 199 Shelley, 32, 33 Short Time Committee, 71 Simultaneous meetings, 168, 169, 172, 173. 175 " Six Acts " of 1819, 75 " Six points," 21, 24, 90, 91, 138, 148 Smith, Adam, 56, 75 248 INDEX Smith, Sydney, 34, 38 Socialism, 84, 109, 133 Socialists, 71, 77 Society for Constitutional Information, 24 Society of the Friends of the People, 23 Society of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights, 22 Southern Star, 113 Spencean Philanthropists, 31 Spies, 26, 161 Stanhope, 23 Stephens, J. R., 122, 146, 148, 149; life and views, 123-133; indictment, 165; sentenced, 189 Taylor, Dr., 176, 177 Ten Hour Movement, 71 Terrorism, see Physical force Thistlewood, 33 Thompson, Colonel T. P., 65, 90, 91, 95 Thompson, William, 77 T i n d a 1, Nicholas, Chief Justice, 200, 202 Torch-light processions, 14S-150 Tories, opposed to New Poor J aiv, 53; attitude towards labor legislation, 70, 71; defeated Liberals, 95; and Ro- tundists, 104; and Whigs, 8, 166, 168; and the National Petition, 179 Trade Unionism, 75, 77, 78, 80, 84, 104 Twopenny Despatch, 89, 113, 121 Ulterior measures, 156, 168, 169, 170, 173. 17s Underground societies, 138 Unemployment, see Distress United Irishman, 105, 107 Victoria, Queen, 92, 140, 187, 203 Vincent, Henry, prominent member of trade unions, 84; and the London Working Men's Association, 89, 135; member of committee of twelve, 91 ; as an orator, 135, 142; in the West, 147; organizer of female associations, 147, 150; in Wales, 147, 150, 160; arrest, 165; imprisonment, 190; and Welsh rising, 191 Watson, J., 91 Wages, 60, 64 Wakley, T., 91 Welsh Chartists, see Newport Riot and Vincent Westgate Hotel, 197-9, 204 Western Vindicator, The, 200 Wheat, price of, 28, 63 Whigs, 8, 23-4, 34-46, pledges, 63, 142; denunciation of, 69, 92, 166, 168, 179; hostile attitude towards labor legisla- tion, 70, 71 ; opposition to Liberals, 95; and Rotundists, 104; and the National Petition, 179, 180; victory of. 206 William IV, 91 Williams, Zephaniah, 195, 199, 201, 204 Wilson, William Carus, 49 Woman labor, 73 Workhouse-test, 42 in me (^m oi S^w "^oxh The University includes the following : Columbia College, founded in 1754, and Barnard College, founded in 1889, offering to men and women, respectively, programmes of study which may be begun either in September or February and which lead normally in from three to four years to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. The programme of study in Columbia College makes it possible for a well qualified student to satisfy the requirements for both the bachelor's degree in arts or science and a professional degree in law, medicine, technology or education in six, five and a half, or five years as the case may be. The Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy and Pure Science,. offering advanced programmes of study and investigation leading to the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. The professional schools of Law, established in 1858, offering courses of three years leading to the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Medicine. The College of Physicians and Surgeons, established in 1807, offering four-year courses leading to the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. Mines, founded in 1863, offering courses of three years leading to degrees in Mining, Engineering and in Metallurgy. Chemistry and Engineering, set apart from School of Mines in 1896, offer- ing three-year courses leading to degrees in Chemistry and in Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering. Teachers College, foimded in 1888, offering in its School of Education courses in the history and philosophy of education and the theory and practice of teaching, leading to appropriate diplomas and the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education ; and in its School of Practical Arts founded in 1912, courses in household and industrial arts, fine arts, music, and physical training leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Practical Arts. All the courses in Teachers College are open to men and women. Architecture, offering a programme of indeterminate length leading to a certificate or a degree in Architecture, Journalism, founded in 1912, offering a four-year course in Journalism leading to the degree of Bachelor of Literature. Pharmacy. The New York College of Pharmacy, founded in 1831, offer- ing courses of two and three years leading to appropriate certifi- cates and degrees. In the Summer Session the University offers courses giving both gen- eral and professional training which may be taken either with or without regard to an academic degree or diploma. Through its system of Extension Teaching the University offers many courses of study to persons unable otherwise to receive academic training. The Institute of Arts and Sciences provides lectures, concerts, read- ings and recitals— approximately two hundred and fifty in number — in a single season. There are three Residence Halls providing accommodations for 820 men. There are also residence halls for women. The price of the University Catalogue is twenty-five cents postpaid, Detailed information regarding the work in any department will be fur- nished without charge upon application to the Secretary of Columbia University, New York, N. Y. Early Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Mexico By WILLIAM R. MANNING, Ph.D. Adjunct Profestor of Latin- American History in the University of Texai 418 pages Cloth, $2.25 This volume is based on a series of lectures delivered at the Johns Hop- kins University in 1913 on the Albert Shavir Foundation. It deals with a period in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico, which has hitherto been largely ignored by historians, whose attention has for the most part been centered on the Texas revolution, the admission of Texas into the Union, and the war between the United States and Mexico. The present volume deals with the beginnings of Mexican diplomacy, and is occupied mainly with the mission of Joel R. Poinsett, the first Ameri- can minister to Mexico. It is based very largely on information derived from unpublished manuscripts in the archives of the Department of State in Washington and of the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Mexico. The writer shows in an interesting way how the British took advantage of our delay in establishing a permanent representative at the Mexican capital to promote British influence over the Mexican government, and how Poinsett's efforts to recover prestige for his government involved him in difficulties and in charges of intermeddling in the internal affairs of the country. The suspicions thus aroused, together with Poinsett's connection with the York Masons, thwarted his efforts to bring to a successful conclu- sion the treaty negotiations with which he was charged. Professor Man- ning shows that in the misunderstandings and differences that arose during the years 1825-1829 are to be found the origin and explanation of the irre- concilable differences which developed during the next two decades and which finally resulted in war between the United States and Mexico. The volume thus constitutes a fitting introduction to Reeves's Diplomatic Rela- tions of the United States under Tyler and Polk and Adams's British Interests and Activities in Texas, 1838-1846, which were originally delivered as lectures on the Albert Shaw Foundation and are likewise published in this collection of works dealing with the different phases of American diplomacy. THE JOHNS HOPRINS PRIISS Baltimore, Maryland Columbia University Press Publications SOCIAL EVOLUTION AND POLITICAL THEORY. By Leonard T. Hob- house. Professor of Sociology in the University of London, Pp. ix -[- 218. CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. By WooDROW Wilson, LL.D., late President of Princeton University. Pp. vii + 236. THE BUSINESS OF CONGRESS. By Samuel W; McCall, late Member of Congress from Massachusetts. Pp. vii + 215. THE COST OF OUR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. A Study in Political Pathology. By Henry Jones Ford, Professor of Politics in Princeton Uni- versity. Pp. XV -|- 147. POLITICAL PROBLEMS fOF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT. By Albert Shaw, LL.D., Editor of the Review of Revie7vs. Pp. vii -\- 268. THE PRINCIPLES OF POLITICS FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. By Jeremiah W. Jenks, LL.D., Professor of Gov- ernment and Public Administration in New York University. Pp. xviii-[- lis?- WORLD ORGANIZATION AS AFFECTED BY THE NATURE OF THE MODERN STATE. By David Jayne Hill, LL.D., late American Ambas- sador to Germany. Pp. ix -|- 214. THE NATURE AND SOURCES OF THE LAW. By John Chipman Gray, LL.D., Royall Professor of Law in Harvard University. Pp. xii-|-332. THE GENIUS OF THE COMMON LAW. By the Right Honorable Sir Fred- erick Pollock, Bart., D.C.L., LL.D., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister- at- La w ; Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Pp. vii4- 141. THOMAS JEFFERSON. His Permanent Influence on American Institutions. By John Sharp Williams, United States Senator from Mississippi. Pp. ix + 330- THE MECHANICS OF LAW MAKING. By Courtenay Ilbert, G. C. B., Clerk of the House of Commons. Uniformly bound, 12nio, cloth. Each, $1.50 net. STUDIES IN SOUTHERN HISTORY AND POLITICS. Inscribed to William Archibald Dunning, Lielier Professor of History and Political Philosophy in Columbia University by his former pupils, the authors. A collection of fifteen essays. 8vo, cloth, pp. viii -|- 294. $2.50 net. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. An illustrated magazine which, in addition to its record of all official University action, and to its historical and biographical articles of interest to Columbia men, aims to represent that wide variety of literary, philosophic, and scientific activity which focuses at Columbia and through which tiie University contributes to the thought and work of the world. Above all else, it it intended that this magazine shall be a means of maintaining close relations between the alumni and the University. The Quart- erly is issued in December, March, June and September, each volume beginning with the December number. Annual subscription, one dollar ; single number, thirty cents. 500 pages per>oiume. Managing Editor, Professor CHARLES S. BALDWIN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS LEMCKE & BUECHNER, Agents 30-32 West Twenty-Seventh Street, New York City VOLUME X, 1898-99. 500 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. i. Sympatlietlo Strikes and Syini)atlietio Lockouts, By Fred S. Hall, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. i * Rliotle Island and tlie Formation of the Union. By Frank Grbenb Bates^ Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 8. Centralized Administration of Liquor Laws In the American Comnion- Tivealths. By Clhment Moore Lacey Sites, Ph U. Price, Jr. 00. VOITJME XI, 1899. 495 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00; paper covers, $3.50. The Growth of Cities. By Abna Ferrin Weber, Ph. D. VOLUME XII, 1899-1900. 586 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. History and Functions of Central Labor Unions. By William Maxwell Burke, Ph.D. Price, li.oo. *. Colonial Immigration Laws. By Edward Emberson Proper, A.M. Price. 73 ceats. 3. History of Militai'y Pension Legislation in the United States. By William Henry Glasson, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo. 4. History of the Theory of Sovereignty since Rousseau. By Charles E. Merriam, Jr., Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. VOLUME XIII, 1901. 670 pages. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. The Legal Property Relations of Married Parties. By IsiDOR LoEB, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 2. Political Natlvlsm In New York State. By Louis Dow Scisco, Ph.D. Price. ^2.00. 3. The Reconstruction of Georgia. By Edwin C. Woolley, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. VOLUME XIV, 1901-1902. 576 pages. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. Loyalisni In XeAV York during the American Revolution. By Alexander Clarence Flick, Ph.D. Price, jia.oo. 2. The Economic Theory of Risk and Insurance. By Allan H. Willktt, Ph.D. Price, fi.50. 8. The Eastern Question : A Study In Diplomacy. By Stephen P. H. Duggan, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. VOLUME XV, 1902. 427 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50 ; paper covers, $3.00. Crime In Its Relations to Social Progress. By Arthur Cleveland Hall, Ph.D.- VOLUME XVI, 1902-1903. 547 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. The Past and Present of Commerce In Japan. By Yetaro Kinosita, Ph.D. Price, Ji.so^ 5. The Employment of Women In the Clothing Trade. By Mabel Hurd Willet, Ph.D Price, $1.50. 8. The Centralization of Administration In Ohio. By Samuel P. Orth, Ph.D. Price, I1.50.. VOLUME XVII, 1903. 635 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. * Centralizing Tendencies in the Administration of Indiana. By William A. Rawles, Ph.D. Price, $2.50. 3. principles of Justice In Taxation. By Stephen F. Weston, Ph.D. Price, |2.oo. VOLUME XVIII, 1903. 753 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. The Adminlstl'ation of Iowa. By Harold Martin Bowman, Ph.D. Price, gi.50. S. Turgotand the Six Edicts. By Robert P. Shepherd, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 3. Hanover and Prussia 1705-1803. By Guy Stanton Ford, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. VOLUME XIX, 1903-1905. 588 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. Joslah Tucker, Economist. By Walter Ernest Clark, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 3. History and Criticism of the Lahor Theory of Value In English Political Economy. By Albert C. Whitaker, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. 3. Trade Unions and the Law in New York. By George Gorham Groat, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. VOLUME XX, 1904. 514 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 1. The Office of the Justice of the Peace In England. By Charles Austin Beard, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 2. A History of Military Government In Kew^ly Acquired Territory of the United States. By David Y. Thomas, Ph. D. Price, ^.00. VOLUME XXI, 1904. 746 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. ^Treaties, their Making and Enforcement. By Samuel B. Crandall, Ph.D. Price, Ji.so. 2. The Sociology of a New York City Block. By Thomas Jesse Jones, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. 3. Pre-Malthusian Doctrines of Population. By Charles E. Stangeland, Ph.D. Price, ^.50. VOLUME XXII, 1905. 620 pp. Price, ciotli, $3.50; paper covers, $3.00. The Ilistorical Development of the Poor Law of Connecticut. Hy Edward W. Capbn, Ph.D. VOLUME XXIII, 1905. 594 pp. Price, cloth, $100. 1. Tlie Economics of Land Tenure in Georgia. By Enoch Marvin Banks, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo, 2. Mistake In Contract. A Study In Comparative Jurisprudence. By Edwin C. McKeag, Ph.D Price, Ji.oo. ^t. Combination in the Mining Industry. By Henry R. Mussby, Ph.D. Price, ^ii.oo. 4. The English Craft Guilds and the Government. By Stella Kramer, Ph.D. Price, |i.oo. VOLUME XXIV, 1905. 621 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. The Place of Magic in the Intellectual History of Europe. By Lynn Thokndikk, Ph.D. Price, $i.oo. J. The Ecclesiastical Edicts of the Theodoslan Code. By William K. Boyd, Ph.D. Price, $i.oo. ?,. *The International Position of Japan as a Great Povper. By Seiji G. Hishioa, Ph.D. Price, fa.oo. VOLUME XXV, 1906-07. 600 pp. (Sold only in Sets.) 1. *Municipal Control of Public Utilities. By O. L. Pond, Ph.D. {Not sold separately .) 2. The Budget in the American Common-wealths. By Eugene E. Agger, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 3. The Finances of Cleveland. By Charles C. Williamson, Ph.D. Pricc,$2.oo. VOLUME XXVI, 1907. 559 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. Trade and Currency in Early Oregon. By James H.Gilbert, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo. 5. LiT.ther's Table Talli. By Preserved Smith, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo. 0. The Tobacco Industry in the United States. By Meyer Jacobstkin, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 4. Social Democracy and Population. By Alvan A. Tknnky, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents. VOLUME XXVII, 1907. 878 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. The Economic Policy of Robert "Walpole. By Norris A. Brisco, Ph.D. Price, f 1.50. 2. The United States Steel Corporation. By Abraham Berglund, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. Pt. The Taxation of Corporations In Massachusetts. By Harry G. Friedman, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. VOLUME XXVIII, 1907. 564 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. DeWItt Clinton and the Origin of the Spoils System in New York. By HovvAKD Lee McBain, Ph. D. Price, J1.50. 2. The Development of the Legislature of Colonial "Virginia. By Elmer I. Miller, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 3. The Distribution of Ovrnershlp. By Joseph Harding Underwood, Ph.D. Price,5i.5o. VOLUME XXIX, 1908. 703 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. Early New^ England To^vns. By Anne Bush MacLear, Ph.D. Price, Ji. so. 2. New^ Hampshire as a Royal Province. By William H. Fry, Ph.D. Price, $3.00. VOLUME XXX, 1908. 712 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper covers, $4.00. The Province of New Jersey, 1664—1738. By Edwin P. Tanner, Ph.D. VOLUME XXXI, 1908. 575 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. Private Freight Cars and American Railroads. By L. D. H. Weld, Ph.D. Price, |i.so. 2. Ohio before 1850. By Robert E. Chaddock, Ph.D. Price, |i.so 3. Consanguineous Marriages In th3 American Population. By George P. Louis Arner, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents. 4. Adolphe Quctelet as Statistician. By Frank H. Hankins, Ph.D. Price, jji.as. VOLUME XXXII, 1908. 705 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper covers, $4.00. The Enforcement of the Statutes of Laborers. By Bertha Havkn Putnam, Ph.D. VOLUME XXXIII, 1908-1909. 635 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. Factory I.ogi.slation In Maine. By E. Stagg Whitin, A.B. Price, ^i.oo. 8. * Psychological Interpretations of Society, By Michael M. Davis, Jr., Ph.D. Price, J2.00. 5. * An Introduction to the Sonrces relating to the Germanic Invasions. By Carlton Hu.vtlby Hayes, Ph.D. Price, |i. 5a VOLUME XSXIV, 1909. 628 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [89] Transportation and Industrial Development In the Middle West. By William F. Gephart, Ph.D. Price, $z.o». t. [90] Social Reform and tlie Reformation. By Jacob Salwyn Schapiro, Ph.D. Price, ^i.as. 8. [91] Responsibility for Crime. By Philip A. Parsons, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. VOLUME XXXV. 1909. 568 pp. Price, clotli, $4.50. 1. [98] Tlie Conflict over the Judicial Powers in tlie United States to 1870. By Charles Grove Haines, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. «. [93] A Study of the Population of Manhattanvllle. By Howard Brown Woolston, Ph.D. Price, *i. 25. 8. [94] 'Divorce: A Study in Social Causation. By Jambs P. Lichtbnbergbr, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. VOLUME XXXVI, 1910. 542 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [951 * Reconstruction in Texas. By Charles William Ramsdkll, Ph.D. Price, J2.50. 8. [961 * The Transition in Virginia from Colony to Commonvrealtlj. By Charles Ramsdell Lingley, Ph.D. Price, Ji. 50. VOLUME XXXVII, 1910. 606 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [97] Standards of Reasonableness in Local Freight Discriminations. By John Maurice Clark, Ph.D. Price, |i.2S, S. [98] Liegal Development in Colonial Massachusetts. By Charlbs J. Hilkky, Ph.D. Price, gi. 25. 8. [99] 'Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. By Howard W. Odum, Ph.D. Prise, ^.00. VOLUME XXXVIII, 1910. 463 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 1. [lOOl The Public Domain and Democracy, By Robert Tudor Hill, Ph.D. Price, Ji.oo. e. [lOl] Organlsmlc Theories of the State. By Francis W. Cokbr, Ph.D. Price, $1.30. VOLUIHE XXXIX, 1910-1911. 651 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [108] The Malting of the Balkan States. By William Smith Murray, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 8. [1031 Political History of New York State during the Period of the Civil War. By Sidney David Brummhr, Ph. D. Price, 3.00. VOLUME XL, 1911. 633 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [104] A Survey of Constitutional Development in China. By Hawkling L. Yen, Ph D. Price, gijoo, «. [105] Ohio Politics during the Civil War Period. By George H. Porter, Ph.D. Price, $1.75. 8. [106] The Territorial Basis of Government under the State Constitutions. By Alfred Zantzingkr Reed, Ph.D. Price, 31.75. VOLUME XLI, 1911. 514 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50; paper covers, $3.00. [107] New Jersey as a Royal Province. By Edgar Jacob Fishbh, Ph. D, VOLUME XLn, 1911. 400 pp. Price, cloth, $3.00; paper covers, $2.50. [108] Attitude of American Courts in Labor Cases. By George Gorham Groat, Ph.D. VOLUME XLHI, 1911. 633 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. I. [109] •Industrial Causes of Congestion of Population In New York City. By Edward Ewing Pratt, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. *. [110] Education and the Mores. By F. Stuart Chapin, Ph.D. Price, 75 cents. 8. [ill] The British Consuls in the Confederacy. By Millbdg'e L. Bonham, Jr., Ph.D. Price, $3.o«. VOLUMES XLIV and XLV, 1911. 745 pp. Price for the two volumes, cloth, $6.00 ; paper covers, $5.00. [118 and 113] The Economic Principles of Confucius and his School. By Chen Huan-Chang, Ph.D. VOLUME XLVI, 1911-1912. 623 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50.

v of Corporations. By Arihur K. Kuhn, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 3. [184] *The Negro at Work in Nctt York City. By George E. Haynes. Ph.D. Price, $1.25. VOLUME L, 1911. 481 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [125] •The Spirit of Chinese Philanthropy. By Yai Yue Tsu, Ph.D. Price, $i.oo. 2. [126] *The Alien in China. By Vi. Kyuin Wellington Koo, Ph.D. Price, $2.50. VOLUME LI, 1912. 4to. Atlas. Price: cloth, $1.50; paper covers, $1.00. 1 , [127] The Sale of I.iquor in the South. By Lbonard S, Blakry, Ph.D. VOLUME LII, 1912. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [128] *Provlnclal and L,ocal Taxation In Canada. By Solomon Vinbberg, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. S. [129] *The Distribution of Income. By Frank Hatch Strkightoff, Ph.D. Price, J1.50. 3. [130] *The Finances of Vermont. By Frederick A. Wood, Ph.D. Price, |i.oo. VOLUME LIU, 1913. 789 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper, $4.00. ! 131] The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida. By W. W. Davis, Ph.D. VOLUME LIV, 1913. 604 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [132] * Privileges and Immunities of Citizens of the United States. By Arnold Johnson Lien, Ph. L). Price, 75 cents. 2. [133] The Supreme Court and Unconstitutional Legislation. By Blaine Free Moore, Ph.D. Price, $1.00. 3. [134] *Indiau Slavery In Colonial Times within the Present Limits of the United States. By Almon Wheeler Lauber, Ph.D. Price, $3.00. VOLUME LV, 1913. 665 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1 . [ 135] *A Political History of the State of New York. By Homer A. Stebbins, Ph.D. Price, |4*oo. 9. [136] ♦TheEarlyPersecutionsof the Christians. By IvEON H. Canfikld, Ph.D. Price, ^1.50. VOLUME LVI, 1913. 406 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. 1. [137] Speculation on the New York Stock Exchange, 1904-19O7. By Algernon Ashbuhner Osbornh. Price, I1.50. 2. [138] The Policy of the United States towards Industrial Monopoly. By Oswald Whitman Knauih, Ph.D. Price, jij.oo. VOLUME LVII, 1914. 670 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [139] *The Civil Service of Great Britain. By Robert Moses, Ph.D. Price, ^2.00. 9. [140] The Financial History of New York State. By Don C. Sowkrs. Price, $2.50. VOLUME LVIII, 1914. 684 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50; paper, $4.00. [14 I] Reconstruction in North Carolina. By J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Ph.D. VOLUME LIX, 1914. 625 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [142] The Development of Modern Turkey by means of Its Press. By Ahmed Emin, Ph.D. Price, ^i.oo. 2. [143] The System of Taxation in China, 1614-191 1. By Shao-Kwan Chbn, Ph. D. Price, Ji.oo. 3. (1441 The Currency Problem in China. By Wen Pin Wei, Ph.D. Price, $1.25, 4. [146] *Jewisb ImmigfjUlon to the United .States. By Samuel Joseph, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. VOLUME LX, 1914. 616 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [146] *Constantlne the Great and Christianity. ^ „, ^ „ . By Christopher Bush Coleman, Ph.D. Price, $2.00 8. [147] The Establishment of Christianity and the Proscription of Ph- ganlsm. By Maud Aline Huttmann, Ph.D. Price, Jb.oo. VOLUME LXI, 1914. 496 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [148] *The Railway Conductors: A Study In Organized Labor. By Edwin Clyub Robbins. Price, 51.50. 2. [149] *The Finances of the City of New York. „ .^ „ . By Yin-Ch'u Ma, Ph.D. Price, $3.50. VOLUME LXII, 1914. 414 pp. Price, cloth, $3.50. [150] The Journal of the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction, 39th Congress, 1866—1867. By Benjamin B. K.KNURiCK,Ph.D, Price, ^3.00. VOLUME LXIII, 1915. 561pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [151] Emlle Durkhelm's Contributions to Sociologrlcal Theory. By Charles Elmer Gehlkb, Ph.D. Price, $i.S'^- 3. [158] The Nationalization of Rallw^ays In Japan. By Ioshiharu Watarai, Ph.D. Price, ^i. 23. 3. [153] Population: A Study in Malthiisianism. By Warren S. Thompson, Ph.D. Price J1.75. VOLUME LXIV, 1915. 646 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [154] *Reconstruction in Georgia. By. C. Mildred Thompson, Ph.D. Price, $3.00. 2. [155] *The Review of American Colonial Legislation by the King in Council. By Elmcr Bbecher Russell, Ph.D. Price, liys- VOLUME LXV, 1915. 496 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [156] *The Sovereign Council of New France. By Ravwond Du Bois Cahall, Ph.D. Price, $2.25. 2. [157] *Sclentific Management. By Horace IJookwalter Drury, Ph.D. Price, fi.75. VOLUME LXVI, 1915. 655 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. I. [158] •TheRecognltionPolicyof the United States. By Julius Goebel, Jr., Ph.D. Price, J2.C0. S. [159] Railway Problems in China. By Chih Hsu, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 3. [160] *The Boxer Rebellion. By Paul H. Clements. Ph.D. Price, 52.00. VOLUME LXVII, 1916. 538 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [161] *Rnsslan Sociology. By Julius F. Heckbr, Ph.D. Price, J2, 50. 3. 1168J State Regulation of Railroads in the South. By Maxwell Fbkguson, AM , LL.B. ; Price, 5i-7S VOLUME LXVIII. 1916. 518 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. [168] The Origins of the Islamic State. By Philip K. Hitti, Ph.D. Price, 54.°'^ VOLUME LXIX, 1916. 489 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [164] Railway Monopoly and Rate Regulation. By Robert J. McFall, Ph.D. Price, $2.03. a. [165] The Butter Industry In the United States. By Edward Wiest, Ph.D. Price, S2.00. VOLUME LXX, 1916. 540 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. [166] Mohamiuedan Theories of Finance. By Nicolas P. Aghnides, Ph.D. Price, I4.00. VOLUME LXXI. 1916. 476 pp. Price, cloth, $4.00. 1. [167] The Commerce of Lioulslana during the Frencli Regime, 1699—1763. By N. M. Miller Surrey, Ph.D. Price, S3-5°- VOLUME LXXIL 1916. 542 pp. Price, cloth, $4.50. 1. [168] American Men of Lietters: Their Nature and Nurture. By Edwin Leavitt Clarke, Ph.D. Price, $1.50. 3. [169] The Tariff Problem In China. By Chin Chu, Ph.D. Price, Ji.50. 3. [170] The Marketing of Perishable Food Products. By A. B. Adams, A.M. Price, J1.50. VOLUME LXXIII. 1916. 616 pp. Price, cloth, $4.60. 1. [171] The Social and Economic Aspects of the Chartist Movement. By Frank F. Rosenblatt, Ph.D. Price, |2.oo. 3. [173] The Decline of the Chartist Movement. By Preston William Slosson, Ph.D. Price, $2.00. 3. [173] Chartism and the Churches. By H. U. Faulkner, Ph.D. Price, $1.25. VOLUME LXXIV. 1916. 1. [174] The Rise of Ecclesiastical Control In Quebec. By Walter A, Riddell, Ph.D. Price, $1.75. 3. [175] Political Opinion In Massachusetts during Civil War and Recon- struction. By Edith Ellen Ware. (In press). The price for each separate monograph is for paper-couered copies; separate monographs marl